When a tow truck tows your car, it takes it to an impound lot. From there, you can either pay your dues and drive home, or it can collect storage fees. If no one picks it up, some cities try to recover the storage fees by selling it at an auction.

Louisville, Kentucky, is a city that follows those guidelines. In late 2024, two police impound lot workers picked through cars before they were set to go to auction.

Someone spotted one of the workers carrying a suitcase he didn’t bring with him, suggesting he took it from a car to rifle through later. Other employees looted cars as well.

Looting impound cars affects auction buyers, too

Around the same time cameras captured impound lot employees looting cars, Emily Howell spotted a 1995 GMC Sierra on the auction house’s website. The auctioneers would get cars from the police impound lot. In the listing’s photos, she saw a kayak strapped to the roof, four fishing poles in the camper shell, and a nice toolbox.

She bought the truck for $1,026, counting on having those items as part of the sale. When auctioneers delivered the truck to her house, all those pictured items—and more—were missing.

“You don’t steal from people; you don’t take things that aren’t yours,” she told WHAS. “Surely when you sign on for a job like that, you have to sign some paperwork that says, ‘Hey, we don’t steal from the community.'”

Reporters took the evidence to police, who confirmed they were internally investigating the lot employees.

Of course, police didn’t find their own guilty

Police told reporters after a few months of investigation that they wouldn’t press charges against the impound lot looters. No one seemed to face discipline or return the stolen items, either.

“In our opinion, following an in-depth examination of the evidence, we have concluded there is not a reasonable likelihood of conviction on any criminal charge,” said senior attorney Casey Holland.

According to state laws, a car impounded becomes government property after 45 days. While the items inside the vehicles are in a legal no man’s land, there’s no law saying they can’t be taken once ownership is revoked.

Police also noted that the vehicle’s owner can come and retrieve personal items at any time until the day of the final sale.