A federal grand jury indicted a tow truck operator in San Francisco this week for conspiracy to commit arson as a part of an alleged plot to drive extra enterprise to his corporations by torching the vans of his opponents.
The indictment accuses Jose Vicente Badillo, 29, and 4 co-conspirators of setting fireplace to no less than six tow vans throughout the Bay Space on 4 events between April and October 2023. Authorities allege Badillo orchestrated and directed others to set the fires to retaliate in opposition to rivals for perceived wrongs, in line with the indictment.
The primary incident detailed within the indictment was April 4, 2023, when a 2008 white Sterling Bullet 45 tow truck and a 2012 white Dodge Ram 4500 tow truck have been torched. A number of weeks later, a 2018 Peterbilt 579 “heavy wrecker” was set on fireplace in East Palo Alto, Calif.
A 2009 Ford F-550 tow truck was lit on fireplace on July 25, 2023, adopted by two extra tow vans on Oct. 3 of that 12 months, together with two Ford F-550s and a 2022 Dodge Ram 550 flatbed.
The U.S. Division of Justice in 2024 additionally charged a San Francisco towing firm operator with insurance coverage fraud.
(SF.gov)
Authorities didn’t element how investigators linked the fires to Badillo, or how the alleged conspirators have been concerned. No less than one co-conspirator was a enterprise affiliate of Badillo’s and was affiliated with a number of towing corporations, together with Specialty Towing, in line with the indictment.
The indictment is the most recent of a number of felony investigations centered round Badillo.
On Aug. 9, Badillo was charged with auto insurance coverage fraud. FBI brokers executed search warrants in reference to the case, together with at one in all his towing yards. Additionally charged in that case was 31-year-old Jessica Elizabeth Najarro.
A grand jury indictment in that case accused Badillo of buying an “undriveable” automotive with “extreme front-end harm” in July 2019 earlier than transferring possession of it to Najarro, who then allegedly filed a false declare after acquiring auto insurance coverage for it.
About two weeks later, a federal grand jury once more indicted Badillo and three others in the same auto insurance coverage scheme.
Badillo and Abigail Fuentes, who authorities say are in a relationship and have kids, have been already going through a number of felonies from an alleged welfare fraud scheme filed by the San Francisco district legal professional’s workplace in October 2023.
Prosecutors in that case accused Fuentes of improperly approving Badillo’s welfare software when she was an worker of the San Francisco Human Providers Company. Prosecutors stated Fuentes did not disclose her relationship to Badillo and accused the pair of mendacity about their earnings and property.
On the time the appliance was filed, investigators stated the pair had been working three towing corporations — Auto Towing, Jose’s Towing and Specialty Towing — which generated greater than $2 million in gross annual earnings.
The case led to extra scrutiny of the pair’s enterprise practices by San Francisco authorities final 12 months, particularly from San Francisco Metropolis Atty. David Chiu, whose workplace later alleged that one of many couple’s corporations was taking advantage of unlawful tows.
Final February, Chiu moved to droop the corporate, Auto Towing, and its associates, which included Specialty Towing, from receiving contracts from the town. The corporate got here underneath public scrutiny two months later when a bystander recorded one in all its vans attempting to tow a girl’s automotive as she was driving in San Francisco.
“We have been freaking out calling and mainly rolling down our window and saying, ‘Hey what you’re doing? You’ll be able to’t be doing that,’” the motive force, recognized solely as Joanne, informed ABC 7 Information in an interview. “He began backing up and his lever got here down and mainly he was simply backing up attempting to latch onto our automotive.”
Representatives for Auto Towing and Specialty Towing didn’t instantly reply to calls or voicemails in search of remark.
Badillo is scheduled to seem in district court docket for arraignment on March 20. He faces a most sentence of 20 years in jail and a advantageous of $250,000 if convicted on all fees, in line with authorities.
