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Bridgeport Towing Company Denies Wrongdoing After Police Raid

By Casey Cora | November 11, 2014 8:00am
 The manager of Rendered Services said Chicago Police hauled away 11 of its 13 trucks during a raid.
The manager of Rendered Services said Chicago Police hauled away 11 of its 13 trucks during a raid.
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DNAinfo/Casey Cora

BRIDGEPORT — A towing outfit has denied any wrongdoing after a late-night police raid that ended with officers hauling away a handful of trucks and towing records.

Police on Friday barged into the heavily barricaded lot at Rendered Services at 3611 S. Iron St. and scooped up 11 of the company's 13 tow trucks, along with records and electronic surveillance equipment, said Maria Fedele, manager of the company.

"They just told us it was a police investigation," Fedele said through a speaker at the company's trailer offices.

She said she believed authorities would've taken the entire fleet if two remaining trucks weren't out patrolling. Without the trucks taken by police, many of the company's drivers are out of work, she said.

"Unfortunately, there's people who work here who have families to support," she said. 

A police spokesman would only say Friday's raid was an ongoing investigation, but it might stem from allegations that the company's drivers had illegally towed cars, including a recent incident where a Rendered Services driver scooped up a car parked on a public street in Pullman, CBS 2 reported. 

City agencies, not private companies, are the only agencies allowed to tow vehicles from public streets, which led to that driver's complaint. 

Tucked away on industrial stretch of Iron Street, Rendered's imposing offices are wrapped behind chain link fence and strands of barbed wire. 

Commenters on social media review sites have blasted the company for similar allegations of unjustified towing in the past, with many frustrated drivers saying their cars were parked legally on private property — often with receipts and video footage to prove it — but towed nonetheless. 

The charge for getting a car back? At least $216. 

Fedele blew off those complaints, saying Rendered's drivers weren't sent to sites unless called there by private property owners.

Fedele said Rendered had been dealing with similar complaints for the 28 years it's been in business. 

"Everybody complains because nobody likes to pay," she said.

Tow companies in Illinois are regulated by the state's commerce commission, which issues licenses to operators and dispatchers.

State officials said tow truck drivers' criminal and driving records were checked before being licensed and renewed. 

Motorists looking to lodge a complaint against a tow company can call the commerce commission's police department at 847-294-4326 or by filling out this form.

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