Minneapolis woman on the hook for more than $1K in impound fees, state lawmaker advocating for change

Jeanne Sharp was doing a bit of window shopping this weekend, surfing online for a new scooter.

“Back on Friday the 13th, my Vespa was stolen,” she explains.

Overnight, someone swiped her 2004 silver Vespa, parked right outside her north Minneapolis home.

“It makes me sad because I’m already a victim,” Sharp says. “And then I feel like I’m being re-victimized.”

Sharp, a middle school math teacher at a local Catholic school, says the scooter was found less than two miles from her house, along France Avenue in Robbinsdale.

It was not in the best of shape.

“The ignition was hammered out with a screwdriver,” Sharp recalls. “The whole frame was cracked, and it was totaled.”

But she says she didn’t know the scooter had been recovered until she received a note from a Crystal impound business 10 days later.  

“I got a letter that said ‘We’ve recovered your vehicle and your Vespa’s here with us, but you owe us six hundred-some dollars.’”

Sharp says as of Saturday, that number has increased to more than $1,000, and that an employee at Twin Cities Transport and Recovery told her she would have to pay the bill, which would increase $50 a day for 45 days.

Sharp says the employee told her if she didn’t pay up, the matter would be referred to a collection agency.

KSTP asked State Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville, about Sharp’s situation.

He says it’s perfectly legal for a business to charge impound fees, even if a vehicle is stolen.

“They’re going to charge somebody,” Hudson says. “Under the current structure, the charge falls upon the owner, regardless for the reason the vehicle was impounded.”

Those impound fees can cost hundreds of dollars or more.  

Hudson is proposing a bill prohibiting impound lots from charging owners if their vehicle was impounded due to a crime.

His idea: to make car thieves pay that cost.

“Assuming the perpetrator is caught, charged and convicted, there’s some restitution that should be paid to the municipality for having covered the charge of the impound fees,” Hudson explains.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reached out to Twin Cities Transport and Recovery for comment, but has not heard back.

But what about that $1,000 fee?

Sharp says she’s not sure what she’s going to do, but says she’s considering getting legal representation.

She hopes what happened to her will be a cautionary tale for others.

“I didn’t steal the bike, I didn’t put the bike in the impound lot, so now I don’t have a Vespa, and I have a huge bill,” Sharp declares. “If your vehicle gets stolen, you have to pay for it. It doesn’t seem fair. Let’s put the bill on the criminals.”