DA's lost Porsche raises questions about forfeiture funds

DA defends towing of undercover Porsche WFAA

The 2001 Porsche Boxster raised a few eyebrows at Dallas County Commissioner's Court back in 2011, when District Attorney Craig Watkins' staff bought the car from the U.S. Marshals Service.

Then County Commissioner Maurine Dickey said it sent a "bad message" for the DA's Office to have such a high-end car in its fleet. Watkins said his staff needed such cars for undercover work.

"Drug dealers drive Porsches," he told the commissioners.

But if the DA's staff used the car for undercover work, they didn't appear to use it often. In fact, records indicate, for a couple of months, they lost it.

That led to Watkins' office making an unusual expenditure out of its forfeiture funds: $3,600 to repair and recover its car, after it was towed.

It wasn't the first time that questions have arisen about whether forfeiture funds, derived from seizures of money or other assets connected to a crime, were used wisely. This summer, News 8 reported that DA's Office paid more than $50,000 to settle an accident that occurred last year, when Watkins rear-ended another car.

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The Porsche's story started in March 2013, when it was towed from the top level of a courthouse parking garage. It had been there so long and become so dirty that county officials thought it was abandoned.

"People had written on the car in the dust things like, 'If you're not going to drive it, I will,'" said Robert Jenkins, an attorney representing United Tows.

Jenkins said county officials contacted the parking garage operator, which in turn contacted United Tows, which has the towing contract on the garage. As required by law, United Tows contacted 911 to let police know it had towed the car, Jenkins said.

The car was towed to United Tows' lot. There it stayed for two months, while the company tried to reach the owners. It sent certified letters, which came back as undeliverable.

"No one called on this vehicle," Jenkins said. "No one responded to any calls or letters on this vehicle. We made every attempt to notify the owner of the vehicle."

In fact, the car was registered to a fake company. When United Tows couldn't reach the owner, it was auctioned.

When the person who bought the car attempted to get a title on it, the owner's true identity emerged: The Dallas County District Attorney's office. And the DA's team wanted its Porsche back.

"There were meetings where they were saying that they believed we had some sort of intent to steal vehicles which of course we do not," Jenkins said. "We tow vehicles. We don't steal them. They were saying they were going to possibly bring charges or an indictment. … We told them of course that we had nothing to hide. We are happy to go in front of a grand jury. We had all of our documents."

United demanded that the DA's office pay what it owed to get the Porsche back.

"We were of the opinion, you had your car at the parking garage. I don't know how it ended up being towed but we towed it legally at the request of Ace Parking and then we followed all of the statutory requirements to legally get rid of the car when no one came and claimed the vehicle," Jenkins said.

The DA's office was lucky in one way. The auction sale hadn't fully closed yet. Out of forfeiture funds, it paid $1,800 to United Tows and $1,800 for repairs. A check from the DA's office covered Jenkins' $750 legal fee.

Watkins said it was just a normal business transaction. "That was a problem with United Tows and so we just made it easy and got it back because we were still using it an investigative purpose," he told News 8.

Asked if his office knew where the car was during the time that United Tows had it, Watkins replied: "Yes, we sure did."

He declined to say who the DA was investigating but said it was someone other than United Tows. And he said the office still has a need for exotic cars. "We still use it for investigative purposes," he said. "We do undercover work. We use cars like Mercedes, like Porsches to investigate certain things."

More than a month ago, News 8 requested invoices and other paperwork related to the towing and repair of the Porsche. The records have not been turned over by the DA's office.

News 8 has also filed numerous other open records requests for invoices related to the use of forfeiture funds. Some of those requests are as much as two months old.‎

The DA's office has not sought an Attorney General's opinion seeking to withhold the documents. News 8 has repeatedly asked that the DA's office release any of the records that have been compiled. The DA's office has not complied with those requests and nor has it provided a time line for release.

When asked about the requests last Friday, Watkins said his office was working on them, that the upcoming election had nothing to do with the delay and would release the documents as soon as possible.‎