Towing Issues: car towed from public parking lot, tow company, storage yard

Question
my brother in law went into a restaurant to eat with a friend while they were inside his car was towed, the problem was that there is a water park next door and there are signs posted everywhere saying parking is for customers only on the side with the restaurant, because people park there to avoid paying the parking fee. he came out of the restaurant about 2 hours, and the car is gone, he found out where the car was and went to pick it up, but instead of paying the 200.00 fee, he took his car and left. Is there any way he can prove that he was in the restaurant and not at the water park next door, and what's going to happen to him for taking the car? we live in houtston texas

Answer
Well first of all, I do have to say that your brother in law "HAD A GREAT LEGAL CASE" of illegal towing before "HE STOLE THE VEHICLE" from the tow company storage yard...

Now there is a chance that he can be arrested and charged with "grand theft auto" as he did steal the vehicle from the tow company yard.

Remember that in most cases the vehicle was towed at the request of the owner of the property and they had to sign an authorization form with the vehicle description. AND add in the facts that in most cases the vehicle was parked in the lot and there are pictures of it there to establish that it was "parked illegally" and there is even a police report done where the police are notified that it was towed.

Now since your brother in law, has the vehicle again and he does not have a "PAID RECEIPT" from the tow company then it is still legally supposed to be in their yard.  That is how it can be considered a stolen vehicle.


Now your brother in law, hopefully has the receipts from the restaurant which would prove that he was a customer and as such would of established that fact and it would of been a whole different story..
But since I do not know all the details of the issue, what kind of restaurant was this, where he was in there for 2 hours ? I doubt that he was in McDonalds or Wendys for 2 hours. There are kinds of things that managers can do to see if there are illegally parked vehicles.

And in some cases the tow company does cruise - patrol the parking lot and if the vehicle was there for several hours then it would appear that the owners went to the water park.  

There are dozens of issues and possibilities here, and then there is the fact that a mistake might of been made, but the fact that your brother in law took the vehicle without paying just about wipes any chances of a nice easy solution to the problem from happening now.

Sorry but I bet this is not what either of you want to hear.