OKC woman says tow company didn't notify her for a year, charges filed
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The Oklahoma County District Attorney's office has filed charges against a manager of a tow wrecker service after towing a woman's van in 2023 and allegedly failing to notify her until 2024.
Steffani Poston said back in March of 2023, she let her brother borrow her van; and that he had to abandon it at a Southwest Oklahoma City business after accidentally flooding it out. Poston said she was able to arrange a pick up for the following day, but when a friend showed up to help her out — the van was gone.
"I called a buddy and he got his tow truck and went to pick it up and the tow truck said there isn't any [car] there," said Poston.
Court documents said Poston filed a stolen vehicle report with Oklahoma City Police.
Poston said she assumed she'd likely never see the van again until getting a certified letter in the mail from a wrecker service named Tow Mate LLC March 14 of 2024.
"It's a notice that this tow company has my mom van and has had it for a year," said Poston.
Documents and a copy of the letter reviewed by News 4 said Poston owed Tow Mate a little over $6,000 for storage fees for her 2005 Dodge Caravan.
"That was the first notification I'd ever gotten from them," said Poston.
Documents said the certified letter was sent to Poston's previous address and was given to her by the current owner. Documents did specify however that the certified notification wasn't sent until March 7 of 2024 and notarized the day before.
Documents note that state law requires all Class AA wrecker services to notify the owner of a towed vehicle within seven days of receiving requested information from Service Oklahoma, regarding the owner's information. Documents said Tow Mate LLC is listed on the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety's website as a Class AA wrecker service.
"Follow the rules," said Poston. "To just keep it for a year and not tell nobody and not care, that's not acceptable, not now and not ever."
News 4 employees stopped by Tow Mate LLC hoping to make contact with Mehdi Abesi who's named as the manager in court documents. An employee told News 4 employees that they could not comment on the case per advice from an attorney.
News 4 asked the employee for that attorney's number for a formal statement or comment on the case, but that employee declined to share the information.
Online records said a relative of Abesi posted their $500 bond.
Abesi is facing a charge of removal of abandoned motor vehicle by a wrecker and towing service; specifically in relation to failing to notify the victim; causing the victim to file a stolen vehicle report.