A state marshal under fire in a city towing scandal allegedly dragged a taxpayer’s car 30 feet and forced entry with a slim-jim before realizing there were no taxes due.
The high-temper clash in February 2007 is the third incident the Independent has learned of in which State Marshal Peter Criscuolo (pictured) has come under official scrutiny for his behavior while towing cars for the city’s Plate Hunter program.
The plate-scanning program, whereby marshals tow New Haveners’ cars for delinquent taxes and parking tickets, has been put on hold after the Independent revealed Criscuolo called off a tow on a car owned by a prominent mayoral ally.
The latest towing scrape was revealed in an Independent review of the disciplinary records of the four state marshals who perform lucrative work for the city’s aggressive towing program.
Frank J. Distante filed a complaint with the State Marshal Commission, which is responsible for hiring and disciplining state marshals. The complaint was heard at a disciplinary hearing before the commission in November 2007.
Distante, of Lexington Avenue in Fair Haven Heights, was near his car on Feb. 27, 2007, when a towing crew came to snatch it. Here’s what happened, according to a commission report:
Criscuolo and an unnamed towing company showed up to take Distante’s car for overdue taxes. Distante protested, claiming he had already paid his taxes two weeks before.
Criscuolo and the towing company “forcibly entered his car with a slim-jim bar and towed it about 30 feet before leaving it, after discovering no taxes were due,” Distante alleged. Criscuolo identified himself by only his badge number, Distante claimed.
After the gas fumes cleared and the towing trucks carried on their hunt, Criscuolo “tried to improperly influence [Distante] in a telephone conversation about the matter after the incident,” according to the report.
Enraged over the incident, Distante fired off a missive to the state attorney general’s office, which passed along the complaint to the State Marshal Commission. Distante “expressed great dissatisfaction with the City of New Haven, the police response and the Respondent [Criscuolo],” the report said.
Reached Thursday, mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said the city has no record of the incident.
Following the complaint, Criscuolo came before a subcommittee of the State Marshal Commission for a disciplinary hearing. The Cause Assessment Committee heard both sides.
Criscuolo told the committee he was indeed on the scene, acting on a job through the city tax collector office. The car was dragged 30 feet, but then because of turned wheels, the towers needed to get inside the vehicle. “There was no choice but to open the door themselves.”
Criscuolo originally thought he had a valid tax warrant, but “after listening to Mr. Distante’s claims of having paid the taxes,” he double-checked with the city and found out “a mistake had been made and no taxes were owed.” The car was released undamaged, Criscuolo testified.
The marshal claimed he tried to explain the mistake. He gave his badge number and department name to Distante while the infuriated taxpayer “continued to yell at him.”
Criscuolo admitted he later called Distante by phone from the tax collector’s office, and “had a conversation about the matter regarding Distante’s parents.”
What did Criscuolo’s intend by calling Distante after the incident? The report doesn’t say. The report merely states the marshal denied saying anything “inappropriate” in that call.
After hearing both sides, the Commission concluded the clash was a natural eruption caused by a mistake on city tax records. Both sides “were placed in a difficult position because of the mistake made on whether or not taxes had been paid,” the cause committee decided.
“While it would have been better if the issue of the tax payment was resolved prior to the towing, the Respondent [Criscuolo] did act on Mr. Distante’s objections and discovered the mistake,” the report reads.
The commission found that “the situation created tension,” but “that the record did not reflect that the Respondent [Criscuolo] acted unethically in towing the vehicle or in later conversations with Mr. Distante.”
Agreeing with a recommendation by its disciplinary subcommittee, the State Marshal Commission voted to dismiss the complaint.
Prior Case
While Mayorga, the city spokeswoman, said she was not aware of this case, she did provide additional clarification on a prior towing scrape. The matter concerned a yelling match between Criscuolo and a woman on Pardee Street in February 2006. (Click here and scroll down to read about it.)
Asked earlier this week, Criscuolo denied the city’s claim that he was suspended from the towing program for the “verbal confrontation.”
Mayorga clarified Thursday: “He can’t be suspended or fired because he doesn’t work for the city,” she explained. Marshals are independent contractors. But after the fight with the woman, the city “made the decision not to use him for the rest of the period” of Plate Hunting (then called “Bootfinding”) action.
The Plate Hunting season runs from January to May. Criscuolo was taken off the cycle after the February clash and received no city work during March, April or May 2006, Mayorga said. When the next towing season rolled around in another four months, the city was satisfied that Criscuolo had “promised” to be on good behavior and would not get into confrontations again.
Another Prior Dispute
The Distante dispute was not the first time Criscuolo got into a dispute with a taxpayer because of a city screw-up on tax records. Here’s what happened another time, according to Mayorga:
A couple months ago, Criscuolo was assigned to collect taxes from the owner of the C‑Town Supermarket in Fair Haven. Criscuolo showed up on the premises to collect the bill. The owner, Alex Paulino, said he’d already paid the taxes. Criscuolo succeeded in getting Paulino to pay the bill again, in the amount of $5,000. Included in that fee was a 15 percent commission for Criscuolo.
After the visit from the marshal, C‑Town went to the tax collector’s office to contest the bill.
“Unfortunately the assessor office made an error,” Mayorga said. The company had been charged twice for the same property. C‑Town was reimbursed and Criscuolo voluntarily gave back his commission fee, Mayorga said.
Previous coverage of New Haven’s towing industry:
Kimber Gets Off The (Towing) Hook
“We’re Not Double-Dipping”
Does the city really need to use this [guy]? Are there no other marshals willing to do this work?