CBS2 Demands Answers: Why Can't Woman Get Her Recovered Stolen Car Back?
BLOOMFIELD, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – A New Jersey woman reported her car stolen, only to have it recovered.
But now she has to pay hundreds of dollars in storage fees if she wants it back, CBS2's Dick Brennan reported Wednesday.
"The car was parked right here, right in front of my house," Bloomfield resident Jolie Higazi said. "It was stolen right in front of my house."
Higazi's Honda Civic was swiped on Orange Avenue back on July 16. She said she filed a report with the Bloomfield Police Department right away and nothing happened for weeks.
"And just this past Wednesday I get a letter from the sheriff's office saying my car was found. Great news, only it was found the day after it was stolen and it has been sitting in storage accruing all these storage fees that they are expecting me to pay," Higazi said.
It was the Essex County Sheriff's Department that found the car in Newark on July 17, but nobody, not the county sheriff nor the Bloomfield police, told her and now they say she owes more than $800 in storage fees.
And the price goes up every day the car sits there, Brennan reported.
"I feel like I'm the victim of my car being stolen twice," Higazi said. "It's like it's held for ransom and it's stolen again, but this time legally."
So who's to blame for all this? Well, Higazi said the Essex County Sheriff's Department said the minute it found the car it notified the Bloomfield Police Department, but the police said they were never notified. And in the meantime the car has been sitting in the tow pound for weeks.
Brennan went with Higazi so she could get her belongings out of her car for the first time. She got them, but get this: she could still lose the car completely. Why?
"If it's not settled by I believe Monday, the 17th, it gets sold for auction," Higazi said. "Because it has there for 30 days, and I just found out. No one's willing to help me."
Brennan reached out to the Bloomfield Police Department and the Essex County Sheriff's Department and was told they were looking into the case.
