California towing company has drawn rival trucks with torch, say the indictment

A large federal jury has accused a towing truck operator in San Francisco this week for the conspiracy to commit Arson as part of an alleged plot to lead more businesses to his companies, twisting his competitors’ trucks.

The indictment accuses Jose Vicente Badillo, 29, and four co-conspirators of setting fire to at least six towing trucks in the Gulf area on four occasions between April and October 2023. The authorities claim that Badillo orchestrated and guided others to set fire to the ripothecus for the re-perceived.

The first detailed incident in the indictment was April 4, 2023, when a 2008 Sterling Bullet 45 towing truck and a 2012 White Dodge 4500 towing truck were tortured. A few weeks later, a “wreck” Peterbilt 579 in 2018 was set on fire in East Palo Alto, Calif.

A 2009 Ford F-550 towing truck was lit on July 25, 2023, followed by two other towing trucks on October 3, including two Ford F-550S and a Dodge Ram 550 Platable.

Authorities did not detail how investigators tied the fires to Badillo or how the alleged conspirators were involved. At least one co-conspirator was Badillo’s business associate and was affiliated with one or more towing companies, including specialized towing, according to indictment.

The indictment is the latest of several criminal investigations around Badillo.

On August 9, Badillo was accused of car insurance fraud. FBI agents have executed search warrants in relation to the case, including one of its towing sites. Also, in this case, Jessica Elizabeth Najarro was accused, 31 years old.

In this case, an indictment of a big jury accused Badillo of acquiring a “indescribable” car with “severe front damages” in July 2019, before transferring the property to Najarro, which would have filed a false application after obtaining car insurance for it.

About two weeks later, a big federal jury accused Badillo and three in a similar car insurance scheme.

Badillo and Abigail Fuentes, whom the authorities say are in a relationship and have children, have already been confronted with several offenses from a supposed fraud scheme in social assistance filed by the Office of the San Francisco District Lawyer in October 2023.

In this case, the prosecutors accused Fuentes of improperly approved Badillo’s request for well -being when he was employed by the San Francisco Human Service Agency. Prosecutors said that Fuentes did not reveal her relationship with Badillo and accused the pair of lying about their income and assets.

At the time of the application, the investigators said that the pair operated on three towing companies – automatic tow, the specialized towing and towing of Jose – which generated over $ 2 million in raw annual revenues.

The case led to more examination of the business practices of the pair by the authorities in San Francisco last year, especially from San Francisco City Atty. David Chiu, whose office later claimed that one of the couple’s companies took advantage of illegal votes.

Last FebruaryChiu moved to suspend the company, automatic towing and its affiliates, who included specialized tow, receiving contracts in the city. The company came under public control two months later, when a passenger recorded one of his trucks trying to draw a woman’s car while driving in San Francisco.

“We were unleashed to call and, basically, we rolled on our window and said,” Hey what are you doing? You can’t do this, ”said the driver, identified only as Joanne said ABC 7 News in an interview. “He began to return and his lever went down and, basically, he was just leaning on trying to catch our car.”

Representatives for automatic towing and specialized towing did not respond immediately to calls or voice messages requesting comments.

Badillo is scheduled to appear at the district court for referral on March 20. He is facing a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $ 250,000 if he is convicted of all charges, according to the authorities.