Published on Tuesday, November 15, 2005
in the WFTV News

Tow Truck Driver Accused Of Stealing Disabled Vehicles

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Troopers said an Orlando tow truck driver prowled I-4 for broken down cars, but he wasn't looking to help stranded drivers. He was looking for a chance to steal. State troopers said the driver loaded cars on his truck and took off, without the permission of the owners or the state.

The Florida Highway Patrol said road ranger Chris Sparks deserves some credit. He's the one who noticed a broken down car, whose owner he had helped about an hour earlier, was gone, even though the owner said it would be the next day before he'd be able to have it towed.

Then Sparks noticed the man's car on the back of a tow truck going down I-4 with the wheels dragging on the highway. Sparks also noticed there was a second car on the tow truck, a blue Oldsmobile.

The Highway Patrol said Jorge Luis Ruiz also stole another car the same way. It was broken down along I-4 by downtown Orlando and he rolled it up on his tow truck and drove away.

Sparks said Ruiz made up a story about why he was towing the car. So, Sparks called for troopers and kept Ruiz there until the officers got there. He said Ruiz had his wife and child with him in the truck.

Sparks said he had been trained to look for signs of criminal activity, but said this was the first time he stopped a crime in progress.

Channel 9 was not able to talk to Ruiz because the address he gave police apparently does not exist, but a man with the same name and address has been arrested in the past for driving an unmarked wrecker, among other things.