LAKELAND, FL. – A husband and wife, owners of Strapped Towing, have been arrested for illegal towing of multiple vehicles in Lakeland.
One of the owners, Michael Denn, was previously charged with 2nd-degree murder after shooting a man at his tow yard.
On August 11, 2021, PCSO detectives concluded an investigation into illegal towing practices being committed by a Mulberry business, Strapped Towing, specifically within the Stoll Manor Mobile Home Park in Lakeland, and charged the owners, husband, and wife, Michael and Elissa Denn, with multiple felonies.
The investigation began when PCSO received complaints from residents of the park about Strapped Towing coming into the neighborhood at night when management wasn’t there, and towing vehicles the business deemed were in violation of a written agreement with Stoll.
Detectives obtained a copy of the written and signed agreement between Stoll Manor and Strapped Towing, which states: “vehicles should be towed IMMEDIATELY if they are ‘blocking exits,’ parked in ‘grass,’ or ‘on the street,’ including ‘boats and trailers.’”
The contract stated that the services were to start on May 15, 2021.
A section on the agreement listed as “violation program” states: “violations will be stickered for the following: jackstands, flat tire(s), immobilized, and no plates. Just below this section in bold print the agreement reads, “All violations will be reported to management via email within 24 hours of being stickered.”
Nowhere on the agreement does it mention that Strapped Towing is authorized to tow vehicles for the reasons listed in the“violation program”section – it states the violators will receive a sticker depicting the violation.
Between May 15th and May 16th, 2021, Strapped Towing removed 19 vehicles from inside Stoll Manor, and provided the vehicle owners with the address of 1330 Virginia Street in Mulberry as the storage facility where the vehicles were being taken. Each of the vehicles’ owners had to respond to the Mulberry location and pay cash to recover their vehicles.
According to Google Maps, Stoll Manor Mobile Home Park, located at 1123 Walt Williams Road in Lakeland, is approximately 16.7 miles from Strapped Towing’s storage facility in Mulberry, placing the storage facility well outside of a ten-mile radius of Stoll Manor Mobile Home Park.
Polk County Ordinance 10.3-63 sets the administrative fee, a one-time charge that a towing service may legally impose once the vehicle has been placed in the storage area, of $45.00 plus $10.00 per certified letter sent after three days in storage, not to exceed $75.00 total.
On May 16th, Michael and Elissa Denn violated FSS 715.07(2a)(3) by not stopping the tow in progress when confronted by the owner, and not offering the vehicle owner an opportunity to pay a reasonable fee at that time (which, per ordinance, is not to exceed one-half of the posted rate).
As previously reported, the next day, May 17th, Michael Denn fatally shot Juan Barroso-Muriel* at the Strapped Towing storage area in Mulberry when Juan responded there with his brother-in-law to retrieve that towed vehicle and an altercation ensued. Denn was arrested and charged with second degree murder on May 18, 2021.
He has been in the Polk County Jail since that time, and is being additionally charged with 21 felonies related to the illegal towing (19 counts storing vehicles outside 10-mile radius, one count failure to have address properly marked on tow vehicle, one count failure to stop tow at owner’s request).
Elissa Denn was arrested on August 11, 2021, and booked into the Polk County Jail for:
- Two counts failure to have address properly marked on private property tow vehicle (F3)
- 19 counts storing vehicles outside of a 10-mile radius from removal location (F3)
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This is very sad , Spent 23 years in Business as a Tow Company in Polk County without ANY ISSUES and made a Good Living !!!!. These few Tow Companies that BREAK THE LAWS really cause the Legal Tow Companies to look Bad and cause Undue pressure from Law Enforcement !!!. There is Plenty of Money to be made while Operating a LEGAL Tow Company !!!!. These people were GREEDY AND SCUM !!!. Ive been retired 10 years and still own a Tow Truck, And that Truck STILL HAS ALL REQUIRED LETTERING because even PRIVATE TOW TRUCKS REQUIRE SPECIFIC LETTERING to be LEGAL on the Highway !!!. Just wanted to let the public know that Not All Tow Companies are illegal and obey the laws !! And we “Legal” Tow Company owners/operators HATE people like this !!. And we have Compassion but we also have a CONTRACTED OBLIGATION to enforce Towing Violations !.
They are getting what they gave