Hundreds On the Hook

GilroyDispatch.com of Gilroy California: "Efreen Gonzalez' voice quivered as he stood before the court. He could not afford to have his bank account emptied, he struggled to explain, over a lawsuit he never had a chance to fight. After all, no one told him his car was towed, no one told him it was sold, and no one told him he'd been sued by the towing company for storage and legal fees.

Despite his pleas last summer, Gonzalez lost the case and had nearly $4,000 drained from his bank account.

'This is the United States, where everything goes by the law,' said Gonzales, 37, a father of three who moved from Jalisco, Mexico 20 years ago. 'I don't think the law worked in my case.'

Gonzalez is one of hundreds of unsuspecting motorists dragged into court by former tow truck operator Paul Greer, who was blacklisted out of business by the California Highway Patrol in 2004 after they accused him of posing a 'criminal threat' to the community.

But even after being effectively shut down by the CHP's action - honored by every law enforcement agency in the region - Greer turned the remnants of his business into a small claims court money machine whose suspect practices, measured by a slew of complaints in two counties, have gone largely unchecked by judges, district attorneys and law enforcement agencies."