MARTIN COUNTY — The owner of Gold Coast Towing was arrested Wednesday after a Martin County Sheriff’s Office investigation showed he was overcharging for services, according to a Sheriff’s Office report.

After an in-house audit performed by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, reports showed Gerard Jean Landru, owner of Gold Coast Towing, had six counts of violation of vehicle towing and storage fee limitations.

The investigation in June showed three of the six incidences where Landru charged $50 for administration fees where he was not able to provide receipts of costs incurred for the $50 fee, a violation of a Martin County ordinance, according to the report.

Another invoice showed Landru charged $40 for scotch blocks, which is a fee not provided for in the ordinance. And another invoice showed Landru charged $125 for a second tow, which is more than the maximum rate of $110 he’s allowed to charge.

The last invoice showed Landru charged $30 for something called speedy dry, which is a violation county ordinance, according to the report.

On Wednesday, Landru was arrested and taken to Martin County jail. He is free on $15,000 bail.

Tags: arrest, bail, fraud, investigation, jail, overcharges, sheriff, tow company, violations, violators

This entry was posted on Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 10:25 am and is filed under Crime, Martin County, Treasure Coast business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.