No good deed goes unpunished

[MRBB]

A few days ago a guy comes up to me at a local dinning place and asks me if I could help him out. I've seen him around town and he looked like a nice guy. He asked me if I could pick up a 5th wheel for him 300 miles away and bring it back to town.

I asked him if it was road worthy and did it have good tires/lights/brakes and he said it was just serviced and ready to go. Since I had some time and a friend of mine lived close by where his 5th wheel was I said ok.

I told him I would go up on Friday night, stay with my friend and tow his 5th wheel back on Saturday. He gave me the keys to it and the tag. I told him I wanted $250 for fuel and $100 for my time which I felt was more than fair for 10 hours driving. He agreed he would pay me when I delivered the 5th wheel.

I got to the storage yard 9:30 am on Saturday and saw the 5th wheel. It looked like it should be in a junkyard. The storage owner said it has sat there for 7 years never moved. He said some guys came by a few weeks ago and aired up the tires and changed one but that was it.

The tail lights were broke, the tires were almost flat, there was no battery in it to raise the front legs, a pile of wires lay unconnected on the floor and the front leg pins were rusty bolts.

I plugged in my cord and no lights worked and neither did the brakes. I called the guy and told him there was no way I was going to tow this 300 miles back in this condition. He got mad and said I should man up and just fix things and do the job I was "hired" to do. I told him I wasn't "hired" to fix his 5th wheel and he lied to me. I hung up on him steaming mad.

I left and came home without the 5th wheel. He called me 3 times on the way home but I was so mad I let it go to voice mail. When I got home the police were waiting for me at my house. They had a warrant for my arrest for "stealing" his keys and tag.

I tried to explain the situation but they said it wasn't their problem and arrested me. $800 bond and 4 hours later I got home. Now this idiot calls me and says he will drop the charges if I pay HIM $100 for his time and troubles and drive to his house and give back the keys and tag!

I suspect he will go to jail for filing a false report but what a hassle and another never help anyone out thing. It's a sad world out there and another lesson learned.

[GaryKD]

Sounds like he makes a living pulling this scam. If it was me, I'd nail his butt in a civil suit. There are contingency attorneys that will take a case and you owe 50% of what they win. Sounds to me like you have quite a bit of "mental anguish" and could sue for thousands.

I would not return the keys and tag until he provides compensation to you for you trouble.

[leadfoot3]

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bronk]

Sorry to hear of your experience, when in good faith you were trying to help someone. Certainly, this should not be a condemnation on the attempt to do "good deeds", although it takes only one bad experience to sour the barrel, so to speak. As a lesson for all of us who are approached with a similar request, it might be a more viable solutiion if we asked the individual requesting the job to go with us. This involvement with "sight unseen" issues can become real unfortunate surprises. Thanks for sharing your "lesson learned " experience - it may prevent one of us from making the same error in judgement.

Bronk

[WeatherTodd]

how did he say you had "access to the keys/tag?" Sounds like idiot cops.
Personally I would have gotten a fuel binder and written up a contract.
What sucks is you are going to have to waste even more of your time/effort trying to get the idiot prosecuted.

[lenjen]

The longer I live the less I understand people!

[bluepill]

Originally Posted by lenjen

The longer I live the less I understand people!

The better I get to know people, the more I appreciate my dog.

[KBolin]

Originally Posted by lenjen

The longer I live the less I understand people!

So sad that the world is coming to this. Do we all get to the point where we don't want to help anybody or each other? It's too bad one bad apple has to spoil it for everyone. I for one try to be helpful, but I think if a stranger asked me for help (which wasn't critical) I'd have to decline. This is one reason why I would say "No".

[SarahW]

It's truly unbelievable how chicken-$hit some people can be. (Excuse the language, but if the shoe fits...) I hope that any court in their right mind will drop the charges when the facts are revealed. If it were me, I'd record any further conversation with that idiot and try to document any previous agreement. Good luck to you, and sorry this happened.

[SteveLevin]

I definitely don't understand the actions of the police in this case.

The fact that the complainant had your phone number (easily demonstrated on your cell phone) makes this sound like, at best, a civil case.

Steve

[MRBB]

Originally Posted by SteveLevin

I definitely don't understand the actions of the police in this case.

The fact that the complainant had your phone number (easily demonstrated on your cell phone) makes this sound like, at best, a civil case.

Steve

The police wouldn't even talk to me. They treated me as though I'd robbed the man at gun point. I was just handcuffed and place in the cruiser. The desk Sargent did say he thought a false report was filed and if so the idiot was in big trouble. That doesn't do me any good because I will have to go to court, get it dismissed and then counter sue him which will take more time and money. Plus I won't get all my bail money back and I'm sure the local paper will have it all over the place on Monday.

[Dunner]

Probably shoulda had your friend or the yard owner go look at it before you left home. The cops were morons. Just how and why would you steal the keys and tag for a piece of junk 300 miles away.

[SarahW]

Originally Posted by MRBB

The police wouldn't even talk to me. They treated me as though I'd robbed the man at gun point. I was just handcuffed and place in the cruiser. The desk Sargent did say he thought a false report was filed and if so the idiot was in big trouble. That doesn't do me any good because I will have to go to court, get it dismissed and then counter sue him which will take more time and money. Plus I won't get all my bail money back and I'm sure the local paper will have it all over the place on Monday.

I hope you haven't deleted any of the voicemails that the jackass left on your phone.

[mikf]

just chimming in so I can hear the end result.