The operator of two San Francisco-based towing companies was indicted this week in federal court on accusations that he created and directed a plan to set competitors’ tow trucks on fire.
Jose Vicente Badillo, 29, is facing one count of conspiracy to commit arson, according to a press release from the office of acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, Patrick Robbins.
Badillo is accused of orchestrating the plan and directing others to use explosives and set fire to at least six tow trucks around the Bay Area on four different occasions in 2023. He is accused of acting in concert with at least four co-conspirators, according to the indictment, which was unsealed Thursday.
Federal Prosecutors allege that the fires were set to drum up more business for two companies he was associated with, Specialty Towing and Auto Towing, and as retaliation against the competitors for what prosecutors described as “perceived wrongs.”
The first fires that were part of the alleged conspiracy occurred in San Francisco on April 4, 2023, when two trucks were set on fire. Another was damaged or destroyed in the city later that month, and two more were set on fire in San Francisco that October.
One tow truck was also set aflame in East Palo Alto on July 25, 2023, which the indictment alleges was also planned by Badillo.
A man who answered the phone at Specialty Towing on Thursday evening said Badillo was not available and hung up. A man who answered the phone at Auto Towing responded to a request for comment by saying that the wrong number had been reached. An attorney listed in court documents did not return a request for comment left after business hours Thursday evening.
Badillo was previously accused by the city and county of San Francisco of multiple wrongdoings related to the towing companies he was associated with, including towing vehicles from private parking lots without the property owners’ permission, limiting the hours that vehicles could be retrieved, and pressuring people to pay in cash, according to a press release at the time from the city attorney’s office.
Those targeted included Spanish and Cantonese speakers, who the city attorney’s office said were particularly vulnerable to “predatory tows.” The city attorney subsequently restricted the companies’ ability to secure city contracts.
He faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy charge, if convicted. Badillo is also facing federal charges of insurance fraud and money laundering in two unrelated cases, according to the acting U.S. attorney’s press release.
His next court appearance on the conspiracy charge is scheduled for March 20.
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