A San Francisco couple that operates a beleaguered tow truck company was charged Thursday with money laundering and fraud.
Federal prosecutors said Jose Vicente Badillo, 28, and Jessica Elizabeth Najarro, 30, purchased a wrecked car in 2019, obtained an insurance policy on it, then cashed a $34,000 insurance check after falsely claiming they were in a car accident.
The couple owns and operates multiple tow truck companies, including Specialty Towing. On Thursday morning, the FBI was spotted conducting a raid at the company’s offices on Oakdale Avenue. The agency’s San Francisco field office confirmed that it was carrying out court-ordered enforcement on the infamous towing company’s block but declined to share details.
FBI agents were seen by a Standard photographer outside Specialty Towing’s office and entering a neighboring business called DMB Registration Service. Agents were also searching Specialty Towing trucks parked near the offices.
In April, police launched an investigation into Specialty Towing after a viral video showed one of its trucks trying to tow an occupied car in downtown San Francisco.
In February, City Attorney David Chiu suspended Speciality Towing and several affiliated companies from bidding on or receiving city contracts, accusing them of illegally towing cars from private lots and pressuring owners to pay in cash.
A video posted to the Citizen app showed an ambulance and heavily armed law enforcement outside the company’s offices Thursday morning.
The FBI told The Standard that agents were also sent to buildings on the 800 block of Franklin Street and the 1700 block of Lane Street as part of the same investigation. A co-owner of the towing company, Jose Padilla, appears to reside on Lane Street, according to public records.
Attempts to reach Specialty Towing by phone were unsuccessful. No one answered the phone at DMB Registration Service’s office either.
Annie Ko, who works across the street from the towing company at New Art Kitchen and Bath, said she saw officers on the block Thursday morning.
She said the towing company, ironically, has allegedly illegally parked its vehicles on the street.
“Their reputation is not the best, because they have been taking up the majority of the spots with their tow trucks,” Ko told The Standard by phone.
The San Francisco Fire Department sent an ambulance crew to Oakdale Avenue at 6:05 a.m. in response to a San Francisco Police Department request. A fire department spokesperson said no one was taken to the hospital in the ambulance.