Towing Worker Gets Towed

A Richmond Hill man was recently arrested for allegedly using a fraudulent Pennsylvania drivers license while working as a tow truck driver, covering up his extensive history of unpaid fines, Rose Gill Hearn, commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI), announced on February 24.
Irving Gonzalez, 33, once searched the streets of Queens for cars targeted by city marshals and the city Sheriffs Office because of unpaid parking violations. He was an intermittent employee of three towing companies J & J Auto Repair, Fleet Recovery Corp., and Mr. Z Towing. But Gonzalez has his own unpaid fines totaling more than $11,000, according to Gill Hearn.
The Richmond Hill driver allegedly avoided those fines by putting down false information on license and registration documents from three states, acquiring two Pennsylvania drivers licenses and two New York State identification cards issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) between 1994 and 2001. He failed to get a Massachusetts identification.
"Its offensive that someone entrusted to enforce fines and penalties on others is one of the worst offenders," said the DOI commissioner.
The DOIs investigation began in April 2001, after Gonzalez was arrested for driving without a valid license. A police officer noticed him cruising slowly along a Queens street in a car with Pennsylvania license plates. The Richmond Hill man repeatedly stopped to look in parked cars.
Gonzalez showed the officer a phony shield and claimed to work for the city Sheriffs Office. DOI and DMV investigators picked up on the officers report, and they soon discovered significant irregularities with Gonzalezs background.
Gonzalez has been charged with Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree and Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.
The investigation was conducted by DOIs Bureau of City Marshals and its NYPD Detective Squad, with Assistant Inspector General Percy Corcoran and NYPD Detective Thomas A. Barnes as the principal investigators.
At the DMV, Investigators John Perez and Kenneth McDermott of the Metro Frauds Unit worked on the case. The office of the Queens district attorney, Richard Brown, is prosecuting the case.