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Great story from KRQE last night about apartment complexes booting unsuspecting people's cars. The Booting company is usually the security company and the payment that people pay to remove the boot, which is on private property, goes to that security company. This is a strange but profitable practice and I have reported on it before on this blog. A few Albuquerque security companies make it their practice to take these measures. Is it against the law for a security company to boot a car because of a violation in the law (expired registration)?
Here are some other relevant stories that I reported on years ago.. As usual, I notified state and local officials and law enforcement. It doesn't seem right to me. These security guards are not cops. At least a couple private security companies in Albuquerque have made a big business out of this practice and started a separate company just to rake in the profits. There has been litigation on the issue as the in Albuquerque. A number of private businesses in Albuquerque have also been criticized for booting cars on private property or in front of bars.
Apparently, this time it was Ironstone Protective Services doing the booting. Its owners/ managers were former management of Legit Security, formerly owned by Gilbert Baca who sustained two separate indictments for over a hundred criminal charges. Of course, they are not liable for his crimes.
For the record, the owners of Ironstone seem to be fine people and left at the very end of Legit's demise. That being said, two of the key people for Legit stayed on until the end and then formed their company. It seemed apparent to me that Baca and his crew/ company were bad news before then. This is my opinion but it is well supported by others and in the media. These key employees were privy to top level information at Legit. Ironstone Protective Service is in compliance with all regulation as far as I know. I have never heard any allegations about bad ethics associated with this company.
Updated: Tuesday, 30 Mar 2010, 10:58 PM MDT
Published : Tuesday, 30 Mar 2010, 10:58 PM MDT
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - If you break the law, you're going to get the boot especially if you live in one Albuquerque apartment complex.
Alta Vista Apartments on Spanish Bit Street NE near Tramway and Montgomery NE is booting vehicles that have expired registrations. The complex sent out notices to residents earlier this year.
In the past month, KRQE News 13 cameras have recorded about a dozen vehicles disabled by a boot attached to the wheel of the vehicle.
"I had to pay $100 to take it off," one woman told News 13.
"Let the cops do their job," Gloria Chee, another Alta Vista resident said. "When it's driving on the road, then you catch them on the road. Don't come around and get them while it's parked."
The complex ordered the boots, but Ironstone Protective Services is company locking them on. They slap an orange warning sticker on the window and then clamp on the boot.
Shawn Johnson got the boot for his expired tag, but he doesn't live at Alta Vista. He was just visiting his girlfriend.
"I wasn't able to go to work today because my vehicle was booted," he told News 13. "I have to sell an iPod to a friend of mine to get the money to get the boot off so I get go to work tomorrow."
News 13 spotted an older, beat-up pickup truck in the lot with tags that expired in September 2006 although there was not boot on it. It turns out it's a utility truck for the apartment complex.
Residents called that hypocritical. So News 13 wanted to ask the apartment managers about their truck and whether the booting policy is an attempt to get rid of clunkers, get rid of law-breaking tenants or just make money. The staff had no comment.
When News 13 approached Ironstone Protective Services, a manager said he couldn't discuss the details of a private company with an apartment contract. But he did say residents are responsible for their own guests, which includes informing them of the new booting policy.
The Albuquerque City Attorney's Office said the apartment complex towing vehicles may not be legal. The law says signs must be posted, and they are not at Alta Vista.
But Assistant City Attorney Randi Audio said the company may be able to side-step the law because they have contracts with their tenets.
It seems the only option residents have if they don't like the new booting policy is to move.
I have reported about Ron Haley for years as he evaded arrest and the law here in New Mexico. Apparently, he had to leave the state to get arrested. And get arrested he did! I am happy to know that one of Albuquerque's "dirty dozen" is in the slammer. Hopefully, he won't be out too soon. Meanwhile, he is still employed as a Lieutenant with the Bosque Farms Police Department and on administrative leave. Good riddance..
A Bosque Farms police officer was arrested in San Diego for attempting to cross the U.S. border with an illegal immigrant. U.S. Border Patrol officials say Ron Haley, a lieutenant with the Bosque Farms Police Department, was arrested at the San Ysidro border crossing near San Diego and Tijuana on Friday morning. According to documents obtained from the arrest, Haley was attempting to return back into the U.S. with a woman named Nidea Kareli, a Tijuana resident.According to court documents, Kareli, who only speaks spanish, told the officer that Lieutenant Haley is her boyfriend and that they had been dating for a year. Meanwhile, Haley told officers that Kareli is his girlfriend's sister. "Haley stated he did not realize the passenger was utilizing his girlfriend's document, despite, he presented the document," notes the official incident report.
CLICK HERE for Albuquerque's KOT TV story
Haley was then arrested, while Kareli was held as a material witness.
Bosque Farm’s chief of police confirmed that Lieutenant Haley was formally a police chief in Cuba and Tucumcari and has 20 years of law enforcement experience. He had been working in Bosque Farms for about a year.
The U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego is still deciding what charges to file against Haley. He is being held in a San Diego jail and is on administrative leave without pay
Ron Haley is a Lieutenant for the Bosque Farms Police Department. Now he is arrested and in Federal Custody. This guy has always been a bad apple in my opinion and I hope he gets what is coming to him. Just a personal opinion..
Download Ron haley Fed. Complaint Read the criminal complaint against him.. It really tells a story.
March, 29, 2010- Albuquerque, NM- I have written about Ron Haley for several years now. He has operated illegal security companies, been a part of Legit Security and illegally contracted for security guard services, wll the while being a Bosque Farms Police Officer under "Chief" Joe Stidham. Now he has been arrested on Federal Felony Charges and is being held at a detention Center in California after trying to illegally smuggle a Mexican citizen across the border.
Office of Public Affairs |
NEWS RELEASE
CBP Catches Police Officer Attempting to Cross into U.S. with Illegal Alien
SAN DIEGO — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers Friday stopped a New Mexico police officer at the San Ysidro port of entry when he attempted to enter the United States with an illegal alien.
At about 10 a.m. March 26, Ronald Lewis Haley, a 41-year old U.S. citizen and member of the Bosque Farms Police Department near Albuquerque, New Mexico, drove up to the San Ysidro port of entry in a Chevy Tahoe with New Mexico plates. He was driving with a female passenger.
Haley presented his own valid travel documents, and presented a Mexican border crossing card for his female passenger. The CBP officer suspected that the document did not belong to the female passenger, and referred the car and occupants for a more thorough inspection.
CBP officers discovered that the document actually belonged to the woman’s sister, and that the woman did not have any legal documents to enter the United States.
CBP officers arrested Haley; he is currently being held at the San Diego Metropolitan Correctional Center awaiting charges brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego.
“There is no profile of what a smuggler looks like, so our officers have to expect to encounter anything. It is disheartening to see a police officer taken away in handcuffs to face charges,” said Chris Maston, Port Director at the San Ysidro port of entry. “Spotting an imposter to a legal document is a difficult task, but one that officers here at San Ysidro perform countless times a day. I am extremely proud of the diligence of my officers.”
–CBP–
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terriost weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.
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