Stolen cars are being scrapped and destroyed before police — or their owners — can get involved, and it is now catching the attention of Wisconsin state lawmakers following a TMJ4 Lighthouse Investigation.
Car theft victims say the experience is infuriating.
"That's unfair. How is that even possible?" Teon said.
Teon reached out to TMJ4 after getting a flat tire and leaving his car on the side of the road, only to return later and find it gone. He eventually tracked it to a scrapyard, where he found it in a pile of other vehicles.
A second victim, Skeets Stevens, said the same thing happened to him.
Watch: Stolen cars scrapped before owners can act, prompting calls for Wisconsin law changes
"Something has to change at the state law level so that this can't be so easy to allow to happen," Stevens said.
Gina Hughlett questions the legitimacy of the documents being used to hand over vehicles.
"A bill of sale, that's not real ownership. I can go print that off in the bedroom, at the computer," Hughlett said.
Under Wisconsin law, all tow truck drivers legally have to do to scrap a car is bring a photo ID and a title — or a bill of sale. The latter can be written by anyone, so long as it includes the seller's and buyer's names, addresses, signatures, and VINs.
Michael Maistelman, the attorney for Milwaukee Iron and Metal, a scrapyard on Green Bay Avenue, acknowledged the difficulty in verifying those documents.
"How does this business verify if it's real or not?" Investigative Reporter Ben Jordan asked.
"People can do bad things if they want to do bad things, but we get their ID, we have everything on video, and when the police come, we show them all of the documentation like we did recently.” Maistelman replied. "We're following the law."
Maistelman also noted that scrapyards are not required to check with police to determine whether cars were reported stolen before accepting them, and that there is no statewide database accessible to scrapyards tracking that information.
"We have so many cars that come through every day, we can't do that," Maistelman said.
Maistelman said Milwaukee Iron and Metal has never been cited for a violation related to purchasing stolen vehicles. He directed those frustrated with the current system toward the legislative process.
"If people are upset about this, I understand that. We're not saying we don't understand that, then they should lobby and talk to their state legislators to try to change the law and put a system in place," Maistelman said.
Democrats, like Senator Dora Drake of Milwaukee, say accountability is overdue.
"People are being harmed at the end of the day, and so there has to be accountability," Drake said.
Republicans, including State Representative Bob Donovan of Greenfield and Milwaukee, also agree that state salvage laws dating back to the 1980s are flawed.
"A bill of sale, that's so easy to fake. And you can even have a fake ID," Donovan said. "I'd go to the wall to ensure legislation is passed to address this problem.”
Some believe the easiest solution would be requiring tow truck drivers to show a title certificate, removing a bill of sale from the equation entirely.
"If you ain't showing real ownership of the vehicle, that shouldn't be legal in Wisconsin," Hughlett said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
