When Queneisha Burgess' car was stolen on June 6 from her apartment complex, she immediately called the Precinct 6 constable's office to file a report, expecting to be notified if her car was found.
"My vehicle was stolen," said Burgess. "It felt like I was not notified, and had I been notified, it wouldn't have been in the storage lot."
Houston police found her vehicle a day after it was stolen. It was towed to a storage lot and HPD called Precinct 6. But whether Precinct 6 notified Burgess is up for debate.
"I had to do my own investigation to find out my vehicle was stored at a tow lot," she said.
Precinct 6 would not talk to us on camera. But because of our questions, they admit have started an investigation to see whether or not they notified the victim that her car had been recovered.
"The storage lot said I had to pay the fee or they won't retrieve the car," said Burgess.
Burgess says Precinct 6 never notified her the car was found. By the time she called around and found it herself about a week later, the storage fees were more than $600. She couldn't afford the fees and on Wednesday, the car was auctioned off to the storage lot. Experts in the business say unfortunately, it's often up to the car owner to do the leg work
"Typically it's up to the consumer to stay on top of it and follow their car, especially if they haven't done the things to protect themselves," said Ken Ulmer with the Texas Towing and Storage Association.
The lot owner now owns the car, but says he is willing to work with Burgess on a payment plan to get it back. If you have a similar situation, you can track the vehicle on the website FindMyTowedCar.com
