A towing company received only a $1000 fine for charging a customer over $37,000 to move a semi truck around 10 miles.
Back in May, Peter DeWitt, owner of DeWitt Barrels, was charged $37,000 for G.C.W Tow & Recovery to extract his semi truck from an overpass and take it to a lot in Calumet City, Illinois.
This month, the Illinois Commerce Commission ended a months-long investigation into G.C.W. Tow & Recovery. The investigation found that G.C.W. had broken 10 laws in the towing of DeWitt’s vehicle, warranting 10 fines of $100 each, racking up a total of only $1000 worth of fines, reported CBS Chicago.
“It’s a slap in the face,” said DeWitt.
“Anybody in their right mind would pay $1,000 to get a $36,000 return.”
The ICC’s chief of police, Steve Weatherford, says that the state’s laws surrounding this subject were relaxed in a court ruling back in 2013, allowing for such a small punishment.
Weatherford says that the lack of consequences for businesses like G.C.W. is not his agency’s fault and that they “have to work within the parameters of the law.”
A towing job of this sort should have cost around $3,500.
“Thirty-seven thousand dollars to go basically 10 miles,” DeWitt continued.
“They didn’t even tow the darn truck. They drove it away.”
A spokesman for G.C.W. refused to comment on the situation, but the state of Illinois has since revoked G.C.W.’s operating license.