HOMETOWN HERO: Local teen starts student-led club, raises thousands for foster children<\/a><\/p>\nBassam said he brought the car to South Florida, registered it with the front office, and parked it in the garage of his apartment complex, Riverstone Palm Beach. He said he later traveled to Washington, D.C., to care for his ailing father and notified the leasing office he would be gone for some time.<\/p>\n
When he returned in October, Bassam said the Mercedes had vanished. \u201cBut where is my car? What’s going on with this? Why did I get this letter?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Bassam said the letter was a tow notice that included a certified mail receipt that was signed on his behalf. The notice said the car had been scheduled to be auctioned. \u201cAnd there’s an auction on October 14th at 8 a.m. I arrived on October 21st,\u201d Bassam said.<\/p>\n
Bassam said he went to the apartment management office but did not get answers. He then went to the tow yard, Anytime Towing, with his title, registration, and identification, but said he was denied access to his vehicle and everything inside.<\/p>\n
A police report lists items Bassam said were in the car, including eight cashmere suits, a Rolex, a MacBook, and other property, with a total value of $120,000. Bassam said he believed Florida law allowed him to retrieve property from the vehicle. \u201cYou’re allowed to have property in your car, and you’re allowed to get property in your car by tow laws, apparently within one hour of requesting it. That’s the law in Florida,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Bassam said he encountered resistance from a woman who identified herself as \u201cJen,\u201d who told him, \u201cI’m just a front desk lady here. I don’t know anything. I don’t do anything here. I just manage the front desk. The lady that you need to speak with about the documents and all the things, all the questions you’re asking is a lady named Sarah. She’s not here right now. She processes all the paperwork.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bassam called the Palm Beach County Sheriff\u2019s Office, but deputies told him it was a civil matter.<\/p>\n
In November, West Palm Beach police and a representative from county consumer affairs visited Anytime Towing and met with the business owner, Meghan Damelio. According to a report, Damelio confirmed she spoke with Bassam in October and admitted she lied about her name. In body camera footage, a deputy asked, \u201cWhat name did you give when he came to the window?\u201d Damelio replied, \u201cSarah.\u201d When asked if her name was Sarah, she said, \u201cNo because they threaten to kill me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Damelio told investigators the car had sold at auction, but that account later changed. Investigators were told her husband sold the car in a private sale for about $1,000. In body camera footage, an investigator said, \u201cAnybody can look at that vehicle and see that the value of that vehicle is more than $1300.\u201d<\/p>\n
Investigators said Damelio provided a bill of sale for a 2008 Mercedes matching the VIN of Bassam\u2019s car, but could not provide information about the buyer. In body camera footage, she said, \u201cNo, I don\u2019t have it,\u201d when asked for information, then added, \u201cYes I will get everything for you,\u201d when asked if her husband had it. Investigators said she never provided deputies with her husband\u2019s phone number, and at one point said she did not know it.<\/p>\n
West Palm Beach police also discovered Damelio requested a \u201cfast title\u201d on Oct. 23 \u2014 the day after Bassam said he tried to retrieve his car \u2014 and records showed the car was sold that same day.<\/p>\n
Bassam said he repeatedly told officers the case should not be treated as a civil dispute. \u201cAnd I continue to stress to the officers, this is not civil. This is not a civil issue. This is an issue of theft. I don’t have my vehicle. I don’t have the possessions of my vehicle. My vehicle is gone. I don’t know where it’s at,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When asked about the case at Anytime Towing, a woman identifying herself as Meghan Damelio said, \u201cI have no comment; everything is it litigation.\u201d Asked whether she had heard charges might be pursued for grand theft auto, she said, \u201cYeah no comment again.\u201d When asked where the car was, she responded, \u201cHere — you can contact my attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n
West Palm Beach police believed they had enough evidence against Damelio and took the case to prosecutors, but the Palm Beach County State Attorney\u2019s Office said \u201cthere was insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bassam\u2019s attorney disagreed. \u201cIn this case, there are questions of whether or not the vehicle should have ever been towed in the first place,\u201d the attorney said. \u201cAnd then a lot of questions as to what happened after the fact when my client discovered that his vehicle had been towed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The attorney also raised concerns about broader implications. \u201cBecause if it happened to me, what’s stopping it from happening from somebody else that leaves for two months, that goes on vacation for two months, that for whatever reason they leave for two months, what stops their car from being safe?\u201d the attorney said.<\/p>\n
Bassam\u2019s car remains missing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A South Florida man who says he left his prized Mercedes in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-315546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}