Warren tow-fee collector pleads guilty to theft

For the second time in two days, a Warren-area government worker has pleaded guilty to theft in office.

Rose M. Wilson, 47, of Bonnie Brae Avenue, entered the plea Tuesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, admitting she took $22,800 worth of towing-fee money she was entrusted to handle for the Warren Police Department.

Wilson, a 20-year city employee, could get up to five years in prison when she is sentenced in about five weeks. The Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office will recommend that she receive incarceration of some type - such as prison or jail time, said Chris Becker, assistant county prosecutor.

Wilson, who worked in the police records department, was responsible for handling the $91,000 in towing fees the city had collected since the fee was enacted in late 2009.

Wilson resigned from the police department effective Nov. 8, Police Chief Tim Bowers said Tuesday.

Wilson stood with Atty. Michael Rossi during her hearing before Judge Andrew Logan, giving the yes and no answers required by the judge.

At the end of the hearing, she was taken in handcuffs to the Trumbull County jail, where she was fingerprinted and booked. She was released after posting $2,500 pretrial-release bond, meaning she didn't have to pay anything.

• 5 days later, couple find car that vanishedThe Columbus Dispatch, August 15, 2010
• Legislator: Bill would address predatory towing practices, protect consumersThe Daily Reporter, February 01, 2010
• Stolen car costs owner $5,827.68.Cincinnati.com, September 22, 2009
• Editorial: Too little oversightColumbus Dispatch, June 17, 2009
• Dicey towing under reviewColumbus Dispatch, June 8, 2009
• Towing operator charged in scamColumbus Dispatch, October 23, 2007
• Tow-truck driver guilty of reckless homicideColumbus Dispatch, February 24, 2006
• Heavy-wrecker truck operator on trial in death of OSU studentColumbus Dispatch, February 22, 2006
• Bill would impose more stringent tow penaltiesDayton Daily News, April 28, 2004
• Man sentenced in tow-truck deathColumbus Dispatch, April 25, 2006
• The towing mazeToledo Blade, January 25, 2005
• Tow-truck operators lack city oversightColumbus Dispatch, August 7, 2005
• Off the hook Columbus Dispatch, August 15, 2005

Articles have been reprinted with permission of The Blade of Toledo and the Columbus Dispatch.

Dayton Daily News article titled "Bill would impose more stringent tow penalties," April 28, 2004. Copyright Dayton Newspapers, Inc., all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Confounded towing

Construction is a fact of life in a dynamic city, and sometimes parking rules have to be adjusted in order to accommodate work.

But if Columbus officials plan to continue to allow contractors to tow private vehicles so that work can proceed, the process needs to be tightly controlled. This should go without saying, but the city needs to mark clearly where people can't park, and, barring that, it should make absolutely sure that the owners are notified somehow if their cars must be moved.

What happened to one local couple shouldn't be allowed to happen again.

One late July night, Andrew and Stacey Dorr parked their car on Marconi Boulevard, near Spring Street, to attend a Columbus Clippers game in the Arena District. They parked in a spot they had used before for games.

Kokosing Construction has been resurfacing Downtown streets this summer. Workers moved the Dorrs' vehicle and 20 others that night. And at least in the case of the Dorrs' vehicle, everything that could go wrong did.

Columbus has rules that are supposed to warn people not to park in construction zones, and to make sure police know what's become of cars that contractors have towed. Somehow, officials acknowledge, the system didn't work in this case.

reprinted with permission of The Columbus Dispatch, copyright 2010