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Police in Colorado Springs, Colorado are being accused of failing to notify an elderly woman that her stolen car was ready to be picked up at an impound lot, then preparing to sell it at a government auction without her knowledge, KOAA News reports.
The Kafkaesque saga started back on June 1, when 80-year-old Mary Antrim’s Ford Crown Victoria was stolen from outside her home in Pueblo, Colorado. Four days later, the Colorado Springs Police Department contacted her to say they had recovered her car, but it had been involved in a robbery attempt and needed to be impounded as evidence.
Antirm told KOAA News that she called repeatedly over the next five weeks for more information on when she could retrieve her car, but she never received an answer.
“I need my car for my doctors’ appointments that I have to go to,” she told KOAA News. “That’s my transportation and I’m 80 years old and I’d like to have my car back so I can do what I have to do.”
That’s when she received a nasty surprise—on July 10, she discovered an online listing for her Ford Crown Victoria at a government auction scheduled for September.
“I was dumbfounded,” Antrim said. “I thought how in the world can the car go from being on hold for evidence and now it’s on hand and being ready to go to auction. I couldn’t believe that.”
KOAA News reporter on July 11, the Colorado Springs Police Department claims they had sent a letter to Antrim informing her the car was ready to be picked up on July 7. However, when Antrim finally received the letter, it was postmarked July 11—a gap in the timeline that police reportedly refused to explain.
Additionally, the police department also attempted to charge the elderly woman $180 to retrieve her car, though an officer called her the day after KOAA News got involved and told her they’d waive the fees. A reporter was able to confirm that the car was in fact later released free of charge.
Antrim told KOAA News that police haven’t apologized for attempting to sell her car out from under her, only saying that they’re “looking into it.”