79-Year-Old Great Grandmother Followed Tow Truck, Exposed Auto Theft Ring

The great-grandmother spotted her 1999 Cadillac on the back of a tow truck after she had picked up her great-grandchildren from school.

Seventy-nine-year-old Noble Jean Napoleon followed a tow truck after she spotted her white 1999 Caddy on the back of it. And it turns out that the driver has been accused of allegedly selling dozens of stolen cars to an Oregon scrapyard.

Napoleon had picked up her great-grandkids from school in her son’s SUV when she spotted a tow truck driving by the gas station she was at with her car on the back of it, The Oregonian reported. Napoleon recognized her vehicle, which she had left parked at her apartment — and trailed the tow truck with the children buckled up in the backseat of her son’s SUV, the outlet noted.

According to The Oregonian, Napoleon took matters into her own hands, pulling up alongside the tow truck and yelling for the driver to return her car. The great-grandmother allegedly chased the tow truck through North Portland, convincing strangers to help block the truck and confront the driver.

“No, no, no, don’t beat him up!” Napoleon said she told some men she saw on the side of the road who had helped her. “I need him to take my car back home.” When the driver agreed to unhitch the Cadillac, Napoleon allegedly demanded he return it to her apartment parking spot. And she allegedly followed the tow truck the entire way, the outlet reported.

The tow truck driver, identified as Joseph Allen Beard, was allegedly part of an unregistered company called Maters Auto Recycling. Beard and others connected to the company allegedly sold around 80 cars to Rivergate Scrap Metals. The scrapyard allegedly pocketed cash payments without providing proper documentation, The Oregonian reported.

Napoleon reported the incident to police the same day, providing the license plate number for the truck that police had previously been tracking with a GPS device in a fraud investigation, according to The Oregonian.

Further investigation revealed Beard lacked a towing license and forged DMV paperwork to sell stolen cars to the scrapyard. The 52-year-old unlicensed tow truck driver now faces nearly 20 charges, including theft, forgery, and possession of a stolen vehicle, the outlet reported.

Though police strongly advised others to avoid taking such risky actions, the great-grandmother’s persistence helped officers unravel an auto theft ring that had allegedly sold stolen vehicles to a scrapyard in Portland, Oregon. At least five of the vehicles were confirmed stolen, including Napoleon’s 1999 Caddy. Some cars had already been crushed into metal before the owners realized they were missing, The Oregonian reported.

Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Kevin Demer argued that Oregon needs tighter laws around scrap metal businesses to prevent history from repeating itself. “It is easier to sell a stolen car with forged paperwork than it is to pawn an old Xbox console you legitimately own,” Demer said, calling it “ridiculous.”

As of now, the Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicles Services (DMV) lacks sufficient fraud prevention. The outlet noted Demer also believes the DMV needs an electronic VIN tracking system rather than relying on paper forms.