A truck seized as part of a homicide investigation was mistakenly sold at auction last year, prompting Baltimore’s Board of Estimates on Wednesday to pay out $51,141 to the owner.
The saga began in 2022 when the truck, a Toyota Tacoma owned by Mary Pat Staron, was seized by city police as part of a homicide investigation involving Staron’s son. Staron, a Harford County resident, was initially told she could pick up the vehicle, according to an agenda for the Board of Estimates, but when she went to the city’s impound lot and paid for its release, she was informed a hold had been placed on the truck by police.
Gordon Staron, Mary Pat Staron’s son, was charged in January 2023 with the slaying of Javarick Gantt, a deaf man found unresponsive in a city jail cell in November 2022. Gordon Staron was being held at the time on charges of killing Keith Bell. He is awaiting trial.
In August 2023, Mary Pat Staron was told by city officials that the hold on her truck had been lifted, and she was free to pick up the vehicle. But there was a problem. The vehicle was no longer on the city lot.
A detective “advised Ms. Staron that her vehicle was sold at auction by mistake,” the board’s agenda stated. Mary Pat Staron could not be reached Wednesday for comment.
How does a vehicle mistakenly go to auction? There was a paperwork mistake, officials told the board Wednesday.
Corren Johnson, Baltimore’s Department of Transportation director, said the truck arrived on the agency’s lot without a police hold, and a letter was automatically sent to Mary Pat Staron informing her that she could pick up the vehicle. However, the coding for the truck changed when the hold was placed on the vehicle. That change meant the computer system did not recognize when the hold was lifted, she said. No letter was sent to Mary Pat Staron when the hold came off, nor when the truck was headed to sale, she said.
Baltimore received $22,000 for the truck at auction, officials told the board.
Stephen Salsbury, the city’s deputy solicitor, said the settlement includes the value of the truck, including all remaining payments on the loan, which Mary Pat Staron continued to pay as the truck sat in the city’s impound lot. The final payout also includes money toward insurance which Mary Pat Staron also paid while the vehicle was in the city’s possession.
Salsbury told the board Baltimore has implemented several changes to ensure a similar auction doesn’t happen again. Baltimore Police will no longer be able to request holds of vehicles or release them over the phone, he said. Paperwork will now be required. Police will also maintain a list of all vehicles on hold that transportation officials will be able to check before auctioning off an vehicles, he said. Transportation officials will also confirm that notice has been sent to a vehicle’s owner before it can be auctioned, Salsbury said.
Johnson said the transportation department is also working with city technology officials to build a new safeguard into the department’s computer system.
The five-member Board of Estimates approved the settlement unanimously.
