Towing Issues: my stolen truck got towed, puc office, storage fees

Question
MY sons truck which is in my name got stolen out of our driveway on June 7 08 on my birthday I was out of town for the weekend  i reported it on June 9th to wagoner county which a report was made on that date i called to require about the truck a couple times afterwards to which I got the response of there is nothing new, and they would get into touch with me.  I got a certified letter from a wrecker service that is stating they are going to sell this truck if they don't get close to 700.00!! I had no idea it was there the deal is wagoner county is who told them to go pick it up?? the towing guy says that it is my problem not his and he has perfect legal right to sell the truck even if it is stolen and i am liable to pay or he is selling it. I called wagoner sheriff office and they said they will call me back that was 5 hours ago, i live in okla and i don't know what my options are where do i go or who do i talk to, I don't understand how i am liable to pay for all this storage fees when i was not notified until today that the truck was even there???So i need advice fast because the truck is coming up for sale in just 5 days. It is just a 72 old chewy pickup it was my sons first truck, he has put alot of money into it this is just crazy i told the wrecker guy i would have come and got it immediately if i would have known who is at fault and who is to pay, do i have any legal avenue to go down when the sheriff dept is the one who called the wrecker service to pick up the truck and didn't notify me at all??

Answer
Sorry for the delay, its been real busy at work...

Ok, unfortunately the police department and the tow company did not communicate much it seems and the police department did not follow up on the stolen report by notifying you of the recovery... Sad as it may seem that does happen a lot... At times the police are just to busy to do the follow ups..

Now I guess that you are talking about Oklahoma laws and such which is good as the PUC office oversees towing companies and regulates them... That being said they would be the ones to start talking with to see if the tow company did anything wrong. But it sounds like they did not from what I see in the post.

The certified letter is part of the lien process in order for the tow company to gain title to the vehicle and dispose of it... They get the information from the State DMV... The police while they called for the tow, really do not have anything further to do with it.

Now as to who is responsible for the tow bill, that is usually the owner of the vehicle, unless you have insurance on it and the insurance company paid off on the claim.   

You might try to talk to the tow company and see if they will work out a deal, as they do not really want to get stuck with the truck and at times will take less than what the total towing and storage bill is... It does happen at times so it is worth a shot...

As to the sheriffs department, well trying to sue them would most likely be a big waste of time and money as they generally have some degree of "hold harmless" in their operations where they make mistakes but do not get held responsible for them. BUT you never know what a judge would rule if  you did take it to court...