Colorado’s attorney general appears to be investigating Wyatt’s Towing

Colorado’s attorney general appears to be investigating Wyatt’s Towing — the omnipresent Front Range company that has been the target of hundreds of complaints to state regulators over the past few years.

A fraud investigator with the attorney general’s office in April requested investigative documents and case reports from the state’s Public Utilities Commission — which regulates the towing industry — for Wyatt’s and its sister companies dating back multiple years, according to emails obtained by The Denver Post through an open records request.

RELATED: A quarter of all towing complaints in Colorado are against one company: “These guys feel particularly predatory”

The PUC, in response, provided the investigator a cache of documents, including a spreadsheet of all complaints against Wyatt’s, as well as a breakdown of complaints for sister companies Klaus Towing, Boulder Valley Towing and Lone Star Towing, the emails show.

Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, on Wednesday said he “cannot confirm or otherwise comment on an investigation.”

Between May 1, 2020, and May 1, 2022, the PUC opened 365 cases involving Wyatt’s and its sister companies, the department told the attorney general’s office. Those include 252 cases involving Wyatt’s, 88 for Klaus and 25 for Boulder Valley/Lone Star.

The complaints run the gamut: One individual said his scooter was towed from an area that didn’t have a “no parking” sign. He owed $400 for the tow — money he said he didn’t have. Another person said they had their car towed for expired plates — even though they had gone online to renew their registration. Yet another individual was towed from an apartment parking lot because the Wyatt’s driver confused it for a different lot.

Trevor Forbes, Wyatt’s CEO, said in an email that the company has “no information regarding any interest in our business or industry from the attorney general’s office.”

“In the event we are asked to provide any information to any state agency we will certainly do everything possible to cooperate and be helpful,” Forbes said.

Wyatt’s and its sister companies have accumulated — by far — the most complaints of any towers in the state, according to PUC data. In 2020, nearly a quarter of all complaints and one-third of state-ordered customers refunds for towers came from Wyatt’s companies.

An avalanche of complaints centered around arbitrary or predatory towing concerns prompted the Better Business Bureau to offer an extensive consumer alert for the towing company on its business page.

Phil Weiser, the state’s attorney general, has made no secret that he intends to crack down on what he calls “predatory towing practices.”

The Democrat publicly supported HB22-1314, a piece of legislation that lawmakers called a new “towing bill of rights.” The law also gives Weiser’s office greater authority to enforce infractions by the towing industry.

As the bill wound its way through committee hearings, Weiser tweeted about the implications for lower-income individuals who can’t afford to get their cars back when they get impounded after a tow.

“We need more accountability and oversight of CO’s towing industry,” he tweeted April 7.

Two months later, Weiser stood next to Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Jared Polis as the governor signed the bill into law.

“This law protects vulnerable consumers by establishing a towing bill of rights, including a notice requirement before removal and limitations on charges,” Weiser tweeted June 15. “We look forward to using this authority to protect consumers.”

The towing industry opposed the bill in unusually strong terms, with the association’s president saying the legislation villainized towers who were just doing what apartment complexes or private businesses asked them to do.

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