California towing company auctioned Camp Pendleton service members' cars while they were deployed, DOJ claims

Fedor Zarkhin, Los Angeles Times on Mar 26, 2026

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LOS ANGELES — An Orange County towing company sold off nearly 150 military members' cars, some while service members were deployed overseas, the federal government claimed in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

San Clemente-based S&K Towing signed a contract in August 2020 to tow cars for the Marine Corps Police Department at Camp Pendleton, a massive military base housing about 42,000 active duty military, according to a U.S. Department of Justice complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Of the cars it towed through April 2025, the company "auctioned, sold or disposed of" as many as 148 in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which mandates extra legal steps before a company can foreclose on or enforce a lien against an active-duty service member's property, the Department of Justice wrote in the complaint.

"The men and women who serve in our nation's military deserve peace of mind in knowing that their legal rights will be protected at home while they are away serving the United States," First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli said in a statement. "It is unacceptable and illegal for a business to sell or dispose of these vehicles without abiding by the laws that protect servicemembers."

S&K Towing declined to comment for this article.

The company had access to a Department of Defense database to check if service members were protected by the law yet had no "policy or practice" of searching the database to make sure the vehicles it was selling didn't belong to people that law protected. In some cases, S&K Towing sold vehicles that still had military equipment, uniforms and awards inside, according to the complaint, or after they'd been informed that the owner was deployed overseas.

The company continued to sell military members' vehicles even after a Camp Pendleton attorney told them in 2024 they couldn't sell the vehicles without a court order, the Department of Justice claims. An S&K Towing employee told the attorney "we do this all the time," according to the complaint.

The Department of Justice is requesting damages to service members whose cars were sold, civil penalties against the company and any "additional relief as the interests of justice may require."