CHULA VISTA, Calif. — While serving our country on a deployment mission at sea, one San Diego sailor found out his car was towed off the street, then sold at auction. Now, the U.S. government is taking legal action against the Chula Vista tow company.
Before U.S. Navy Lieutenant Jonathan Liongson went on his first deployment aboard the USS Bunker Hill in November 2022, he parked his 2011 Mazda 6 on the street in front of a friend’s house in Chula Vista. While at sea, he phoned his friend and asked him to check on the car and start up the engine.
"When he went outside, he said, ‘I can’t find your car. I’ve walked around the block twice and I can’t find your car,’” said Lt. Liongson, who thought it had either been stolen or towed. “It sucked when I heard my car was potentially missing, but that couldn’t get in the way of what I needed to focus on during that deployment.”
When he returned to San Diego after four months at sea, he contacted the Chula Vista Police Department and found out his car had been towed and impounded at Tony's Auto Center for an expired registration. He then visited the tow yard at 38 Third Avenue in hopes of getting his car back.
“I asked them could you run this plate through the system please and they told me that unfortunately that vehicle has been auctioned off,” explained Lt. Liongson.
Tony’s Auto sold his car at auction for $1,200. They claimed it accumulated fees of about $6,000 while stored at their impound lot for 2 months.
In a complaint filed last week by the U.S. Attorney General on behalf of the federal government, they claim Tony’s Auto violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by selling his car without a court order, and without first checking the D.O.D.'s Defense Manpower Date Center (DMDC database) to verify whether or not the vehicle's owner was a SCRA-protected servicemember.
The federal law offers certain protections to active duty military servicemembers and their property in certain circumstances like foreclosures or repossessions, as they’re often overseas and unreachable.
CBS 8 called Tony’s Auto Center for comment and have not heard back by the time of this publication.
Lt. Liongson recommends parking a car off the street, like in a garage or in a storage facility, before going on deployment.
“If you want to prevent that from happening, make sure you put your car in a very safe place," said Lt. Liongson. "But of course, sometimes these things happen, especially for younger folks and junior officers such as myself who don’t always know about these things until unfortunately after the events.”
At the time, he still owed about $2,500 on a car loan to Navy Federal Credit Union, which he still had to pay. Lt. Liongson is hoping to recoup the money through the pending legal action while also trying to help other servicemembers facing similar situations.
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