JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – ASAP Towing and Storage President Vince Serrano, who was the topic of a long-term I-TEAM investigation, pleaded not responsible Monday to felony counts of grand theft and arranged fraud.
Serrano’s arraignment had been scheduled for final week however was postponed.
WATCH: Press play above to look at a replay of Monday’s quick courtroom listening to
An arrest warrant for Serrano exhibits investigators consider he defrauded Floridians of almost $194,000 by underreporting the gross sales costs of unclaimed automobiles whereas overinflating ASAP’s prices to tow, retailer, and promote them.
Serrano’s fees are grand theft of greater than $100,000 and arranged fraud regarding property value not less than $50,000.
He will probably be again in cour on March 19 and will face 21 months to 30 years in jail if convicted.
The state informed the courtroom it might contemplate a plea cut price with Serrano however that the settlement must embody restitution of as much as $180,000.
The alleged scheme facilities round vehicles ASAP towed after which bought when their house owners couldn’t be discovered. When a towing firm sells an unclaimed automobile, they’re solely allowed to maintain what it prices them to tow, retailer, and promote the automobile. Any overages should be posted to the Clerk of Courtroom so the proprietor can recoup these funds.
JSO investigators declare Serrano was underreporting sale quantities and holding the distinction, in addition to “double dipping” on charges, making a “windfall.”
Quickly after the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office raided the four locations of ASAP Towing and Storage last July, Serrano informed the I-TEAM that ASAP is a $10 million enterprise in the case of income.
Now investigators say he’s been cooking the books in a fraud scheme that goes again years.
MORE | JSO recovered $253,000 owed to clerk of court from towing companies following 2023 audit: incident report | ASAP Towing was permanently banned from JSO use following discovery of $181,000 in late payments
Serrano turned himself in on the Duval County jail in November and was launched that day on his personal recognizance.
The warrant exhibits investigators reviewed all of ASAP’s gross sales paperwork filed from 2020 to 2024.
A letter from JSO obtained by the I-TEAM revealed that ASAP Towing was completely banned from JSO use in January 2024 after an audit discovered the corporate didn’t report tens of 1000’s of {dollars} as required by state legislation.
In accordance with investigators, JSO in contrast recordsdata displaying discrepancies between the gross sales costs ASAP reported and the payments of gross sales, with ASAP underreporting what patrons truly paid. The warrant additionally says ASAP fraudulently inflated their prices with phony deductions.
In a single 2022 sale cited on the warrant, ASAP reported the automobile as promoting for $7,700, when it truly bought for $8,855. ASAP listed $1,155 of deductions associated to the sale, whereas additionally itemizing one other deduction for purchaser’s and key charges for a similar quantity.
Investigators stated the deductions are inflated. The numbers on the warrant point out ASAP pocketed $2,310 greater than they need to have in that sale.
The warrant stated investigators reviewed Report of Gross sales paperwork for 255 transactions from 2020 to 2024, and in all by three, the Payments of Gross sales supported fraud.
The warrant goes on to say: “Investigators decided that the [Serrano] fraudulently signed and filed 216 of those Report of Gross sales paperwork with the Clerk of the Circuit Courtroom.”
Moreover, investigators say they reviewed 5 present ASAP staff and one former worker, with the previous worker reporting Serrano “ordered her to underreport the sale quantity and to deduct one other purchaser’s charge and key charge below the ‘different’ part of the Report of Sale doc,” and “informed her to make an instance kind for all places of work to observe.”
In accordance with the warrant, the investigation started with an audit in October 2023 that JSO did on all of the towing firms it used. It was throughout that, the warrant says, they found ASAP had underreported the precise sale worth of 1 automobile, after which they dug deeper and reportedly discovered that was simply the tip of the iceberg.
Serrano informed News4JAX that he had not completed something mistaken and that JSO was investigating him in retaliation for a lawsuit he filed towards the company for banning ASAP from its operators’ listing.
Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.
