A federal grand jury indicted a tow truck operator in San Francisco this week for conspiracy to commit arson as part of an alleged plot to drive more business to his companies by torching the trucks of his competitors.
The indictment accuses Jose Vicente Badillo, 29, and four co-conspirators of setting fire to at least six tow trucks across the Bay Area on four occasions between April and October 2023. Authorities allege Badillo orchestrated and directed others to set the fires to retaliate against rivals for perceived wrongs, according to the indictment.
The first incident detailed in the indictment was April 4, 2023, when a 2008 white Sterling Bullet 45 tow truck and a 2012 white Dodge Ram 4500 tow truck were torched. Several weeks later, a 2018 Peterbilt 579 “heavy wrecker” was set on fire in East Palo Alto, Calif.
A 2009 Ford F-550 tow truck was lit on fire on July 25, 2023, followed by two more tow trucks on Oct. 3 of that year, including two Ford F-550s and a 2022 Dodge Ram 550 flatbed.
Authorities did not detail how investigators linked the fires to Badillo, or how the alleged conspirators were involved. At least one co-conspirator was a business associate of Badillo’s and was affiliated with one or more towing companies, including Specialty Towing, according to the indictment.
The indictment is the latest of several criminal investigations centered around Badillo.
On Aug. 9, Badillo was charged with auto insurance fraud. FBI agents executed search warrants in connection with the case, including at one of his towing yards. Also charged in that case was 31-year-old Jessica Elizabeth Najarro.
A grand jury indictment in that case accused Badillo of purchasing an “undriveable” car with “severe front-end damage” in July 2019 before transferring ownership of it to Najarro, who then allegedly filed a false claim after obtaining auto insurance for it.
About two weeks later, a federal grand jury again indicted Badillo and three others in a similar auto insurance scheme.
Badillo and Abigail Fuentes, who authorities say are in a relationship and have children, were already facing multiple felonies from an alleged welfare fraud scheme filed by the San Francisco district attorney’s office in October 2023.
Prosecutors in that case accused Fuentes of improperly approving Badillo’s welfare application when she was an employee of the San Francisco Human Services Agency. Prosecutors said Fuentes failed to disclose her relationship to Badillo and accused the pair of lying about their income and assets.
At the time the application was filed, investigators said the pair had been operating three towing companies — Auto Towing, Jose’s Towing and Specialty Towing — which generated more than $2 million in gross annual income.
The case led to more scrutiny of the pair’s business practices by San Francisco authorities last year, specifically from San Francisco City Atty. David Chiu, whose office later alleged that one of the couple’s companies was profiting from illegal tows.
Last February, Chiu moved to suspend the company, Auto Towing, and its affiliates, which included Specialty Towing, from receiving contracts from the city. The company came under public scrutiny two months later when a bystander recorded one of its trucks trying to tow a woman’s car as she was driving in San Francisco.
“We were freaking out calling and basically rolling down our window and saying, ‘Hey what you are doing? You can’t be doing that,’” the driver, identified only as Joanne, told ABC 7 News in an interview. “He started backing up and his lever came down and basically he was just backing up trying to latch onto our car.”
Representatives for Auto Towing and Specialty Towing did not immediately respond to calls or voicemails seeking comment.
Badillo is scheduled to appear in district court for arraignment on March 20. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 if convicted on all charges, according to authorities.
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