THE TEACHER BECOMES THE STUDENT....HOW POETIC!

The newspaper headline read: “Tow-truck operators … make pay-offs to officers who arrange business from crash victims.”

It could easily describe the criminal charges filed Wednesday against 17 Baltimore police officers in an alleged kickback scheme. But the story is from 1965. And it is nearly identical to another case from 1956.

Allegations of corruption involving police, towing companies and car repair shops have long been a staple of city politics, and have led to grand jury probes, criminal investigations, commissions and repeated changes in how the business is regulated.

Still, authorities say, the problem appears to have resurfaced.

The kickbacks described a half-century ago are small compared to this week’s allegations — a cop got $5 for each car steered to a certain garage in 1956, according to the testimony of one tow truck driver in federal court — but the principle was the same.

Cops had their own side deals with garages and directed victims of car accidents to those places. In 1965, cops got $10 a car. Today, prosecutors said the graft has risen to as much as $300 a car, with one officer accused in the criminal complaint of taking in $14,500 over two years.

In 1998, a Baltimore Sun investigation revealed that the city’s licensed tow companies had violated rules requiring them to stay within certain geographic boundaries. The story noted that one company received $1.5 million from the city in a single year.

“Towing is a $12 million industry in this town,” City Councilman Robert W. Curran said Wednesday, saying that more than 60,000 cars are towed in the city annually, including those taken from private lots, parking ticket scofflaws, illegal parkers and cars involved in accidents. “There are going to be people trying to take advantage of the system.”

Curran closely follows towing issues and has successfully sponsored several bills to protect residents from unfair towing practices. A 2008 bill by Curran increased fines for “predatory towers” who speed to accidents before police officers arrive and haul away damaged vehicles although they are not licensed by the city.

While the medallion towers must charge a set rate between $130 and $140, the predatory towers bilk insurance companies for as much as $1,000 per tow, Curran said. “I was trying to stop an insurance scam.”

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"HONEY....I'M GOING TO BE LATE FOR DINNER!"

Seventeen Baltimore police officers are accused of receiving $300 for each vehicle they steered to a repair shop not authorized to tow vehicles from accident scenes, authorities said Wednesday.

The shop’s two owners, also charged, allegedly paid officers to arrange for their company, rather than a city-authorized firm, to tow damaged vehicles to their shop, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Baltimore.

“The criminal complaint alleges that the officers were secretly working for a private auto repair business when they were supposed to be working for the police department and the citizens of Baltimore,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein in a statement. “Police officers cross a bright line when they take payments from private citizens in connection with their official duties.”

The defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit extortion, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

Hernan Alexis Moreno Mejia, 30, and his brother, Edwin Javier Mejia, 27, operate Majestic Auto Repair Shop LLC, which, according to the statement, was not authorized to tow vehicles in the city.

According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, the police officers received about $300 for each vehicle they steered to Majestic. According to the affidavit, during the two-year scheme, officers received payments totaling from $300 to more than $14,400.

Federal investigators were arresting Baltimore officers Wednesday, said Special Agent Rich Wolf, a spokesman for the FBI.

Rosenstein, the FBI and Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III were planning a press conference later Wednesday.

WHO YOU ASK????

Eddy Arias, 39, of Catonsville;
Eric Ivan Ayala Olivera, 35, of Edgewood;
Rodney Cintron, 31, of Middle River;
Jhonn S. Corona, 32, of Rosedale;
Michael Lee Cross, 28, of Reisterstown;
Jerry Edward Diggs, Jr., 24, of Baltimore;
Rafael Concepcion Feliciano Jr., 30, of Baltimore;
Jaime Luis Lugo Rivera, 35, of Aberdeen;
Kelvin Quade Manrich, 41, of Gwynn Oak;
Luis Nunez, 33, of Baltimore;
Samuel Ocasio, 35, of Edgewood;
David Reeping, 41, of Baltimore;
Jermaine Rice, 28, of Owings Mills;
Leonel Rodriguez Torres, 31, of Edgewood;
Marcos Fernando Urena, 33, of Baltimore;
Osvaldo Valentine, 38, of Edgewood;
Henry Yambo, 28, of Reisterstown.

Should be a fun evening for this bunch.