Skyway Towing & Recovery St. Petersburg, Fl. Criminal Towing Operation St. Petersburg, Florida

Still no response from Skyway Towing and Recovery regarding the public arrest record of their employee Chester "Chet" Hewitt.  Apparently Mr. George Rahdert is too ashamed to respond.  Go figure!  Karma wins, again.

 Click this link for the correct reference to "44 days in business"

Still awaiting Skyway Towing & Recovery President Jacob "Jake" Rahdert's response to arrest records released on employee Chester "Chet" W. Hewitt  D.O.B: 08/07/1980.  
 Misdemeanor charge case numbers released.
Please reference Pinellas County Florida Clerk of the Circuit Court.
Records search:  Case # CTC0903141MMANO / Charged with Petit Theft
Records search:  Case # CTC0812734MMAN0 /  Charged with Enforcement of Towing

In the State of Florida a  Misdemeanor is considered a Criminal Act.
The People Of Pinellas County want to know when you will address these concerns.

What's worth noting is "...only one complaint filed..." in your first 44 days in business. That is commendable! Congratulations. Something else that is worth noting is YOUR "baseless" allegation of "one member of their party tripped and fell face first on the pavement after stumbling over a parking curb because they had too much to drink". Oh no. A nameless, faceless drunk comment. Shameful. That's all too convenient. My mistake. What a good samaritan you are. You were just trying to save them the cost of getting a DUI. I'll bet you let them drive their car home after you got your fee though.

In regards to your comment about "...we've never been investigated by any agency at the local or state level...", I defer to the "44 days in business" that I spoke of earlier. They barely know that you exist.

In regards to your comment about "We encourage anyone with an internet connection to do their own research to see that the accusation levied against us is baseless." Anyone who followed through on that would likely only find you on Ripoff Report (appropriately) because your new and you haven't yet advertised anywhere.

Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back. It's too early in the game.

Are there signs posted on the property in question?

In response to Mr. Rahdert, "representative of Skyway Towing & Recovery Inc."

Our car was towed by your nephew Jake Rahdert (listed as President and Treasurer of Skyway Towing and Recovery, Inc. and employee Chester "Chet" W. Hewitt (listed as Secretary of Skyway Towing & Recovery, Inc,)

To refute your statement that "no employee of Skyway Towing & Recovery, Inc has ever been arrested........how do you then explain to everyone the two arrests and criminal charges of Misdemeaner (one for Petit Theft and one for Enforcement of Towing)  levied against your employee Chester "Chet' W. Hewitt?

The People of Pinellas County need to know.  Please respond at your earliest convenience.

So, to be clear you have the right to tow if someone is parked on private property without the owner's consent.  How do you determine who has consent? Do they need a permit in the vehicle, a letter from the owner, please tell me how you determine who has permission and those are in violation.  If you are sitting in the lot watching who is parking, why don't you say "Hey You can't park here!"  It seems that the property owner should have to pick up the phone and tell you to come get the vehicle.  You troll for cars to tow and I have see you do it first hard. When it's a valid tow, I have no problem with it.  I'm also wondering, how are you affiliated with A-1 Recovery?  Do you have a contract with the City of St. Petersburg?  Good luck with the business.

Even though this whole report about skyway towing and recovery is about "illegally taking cars", they dont just do impounds. They also have lockout, private tows and jump start services.

So with that being said I locked my keys in my car the other day and had a very important meeting to get to in 30 minutes. I have AAA so I called them and they said the wait time for some one to come get the keys out of my car would be 45 minutes to an hour.

With being pressed for time I actually came across skyway towing and recovery from a towing sign they have up on the property I was on. So I called the guy and he said he could be there in less then 10 minutes. Not only did he come in less than 10 minutes but he was very kind and did his job in a timely manner.

You can call them a ripoff or whatever you want for them simply doing their job and respecting the contracts they have with properties owners but if I ever have a car issue again I will be sure to call them, as well as letting all of my family and friends know about the wonderful services they do offer.

As a representative of Skyway Towing and Recovery I feel its necessary to respond to a recent complaint made by someone whose car was towed by our company.  To properly refute these allegations I'll first outline a few basic points to help those better understand private property rights and vehicle trespassing.

In the state of Florida, a property owner has the ability to have unwanted vehicles removed from their property once an agreement is in place with a towing company.  In Pinellas County, all towing companies are regulated and their actions closely monitored by various entities including police departments and the Dept of Consumer Protection.  

Put simply, if someone parks their car on private property without permission the vehicle can be towed with the property owners consent.  Most clear thinking people understand this and avoid private property when a sign is posted.  As many of you reading this can imagine, there are some folks who don't take the time or simply don't care about where they park and couldn't care any less about the harm they're doing to someone's property.  In addition, they usually don't understand the liability and costs associated with increased traffic to/from a parking lot.  

Thankfully, the state of Florida (and many other states) have laws that protect property owners and allow for unwanted vehicles to be removed.  The individual who filed this "ripoff report" doesn't understand any of these concepts and didn't mention that they were parked on private property.  The author also didn't mention that one member of their party tripped and fell face first on the pavement after stumbling over a parking curb because they had too much to drink.  

It is also worth noting that our company has only had one complaint and its because we follow the rules and only remove vehicles according to state statute 715.07.  Nobody from our company has ever been arrested and we've never been investigated by any agency at the local or state level.  We encourage anyone with an internet connection to do their own research to see that the accusation levied against us is baseless.