OUTRAGE! – Six Year Sentence for Oakland Repo Man Murder

Killer Given Credit for Four Years Already Served

Oakland, CA – July 1, 2025 – It’s been just over four years since 43-year-old Tim Nielsen, a recovery agent for of Any Capital Recovery was murdered during an armed robbery in Oakland, California. Justice has proven to be elusive in the ultra-liberal Alameda County court. With one of the co-defendant murderers already released from jail, the second could be free in less than two more years.

Tim Nielsen was a father of four. He was employed as a repossession agent by Any Capital Recovery when fatally shot around 4:15 a.m. on June 14, 2021. After he was shot his truck crashed into a building on the 1800 block of East 12th Street.

At the killer’s preliminary hearing, Marco Dragula, 21 at the time of the murder, was ordered to stand trial on murder and attempted robbery charges. The main witness was 20-year-old Aaron Hein, 17 at the time of the murder, who testified about the hours leading up to the shooting and the weeks afterward. Also charged as a minor, Mikey Griffin.

Hein said he, Dragula and Griffin went into hiding and tried to avoid discussing what happened over the phones out of fear authorities were listening.

The three were finally arrested in late 2021.

The First Hearing

Hein testified that all three defendants had serious personal problems at the time: Hein was homeless and had stolen his father’s Lincoln Navigator. He believed Dragula, his “best friend,” had been exhibiting signs of schizophrenia. And Griffin had family troubles as well, to the point that Hein was letting him sleep in his car based on the belief he had nowhere else to go.

Around midnight on June 14, 2021, the three hatched a badly thought-out plan to rob johns along a section of International Boulevard known as “The Blade,” an area frequented by sex workers. He testified they accosted more than a dozen people but were only able to shake down two for small amounts of money.

By the early morning hours, the group was planning to head back to Dublin when they spotted Nielsen’s tow truck and impulsively decided to rob it. Hein testified that he was driving, that Griffin had a BB gun and that Dracula had a pistol, which he had fired into the air to scare someone earlier that morning.

Hein said he stayed in the car and that the other two approached Nielsen. He said he wasn’t looking when he heard a gunshot ring out, and when he turned toward the tow truck his friends were scampering back to the car.

“Bro, what the f— happened?” Hein said he asked Dragula. He paraphrased Dragula’s alleged response, “that the tow truck driver was like reaching for something, could have been a weapon, it could have been something, but he said he was reaching for something and he just shot him.”

Afterward, Hein was badly shaken up. He testified that he didn’t sleep that night, that his emotional state was “disastrous” and that he felt overwhelmed. He was certain they would eventually be arrested. While Hein bounced between Stockton, Pleasanton and Dublin, trying to keep a low profile but still reportedly breaking into cars in the Tri-Valley area, police were using surveillance footage from the shooting to identify the Lincoln and hone in on the three.

“I was traumatized,” Hein testified. But he added, “Tim Nielsen’s family probably got it 10 times worse than we do.”

The Plea Bargains

For anyone unfamiliar, Alameda County has a long-standing criminal friendly District Attorneys office and judges. The fact that this case was adjudicated through a plea bargain is of little surprise. But the sentencing is far from anything resembling justice.

With little fanfare or announcement until today, Marco Dragula, 24, was sentenced to six years in state prison as part of a plea deal with Alameda County prosecutors. Dragula pleaded no contest to robbery and in return a murder charge against him was dismissed, court records show.

Dragula’s co-defendant, 23-year-old Aaron Hein, pleaded guilty to robbery in 2022 and was subsequently released from jail. The two were charged, along with a teen boy, Mikey Griffin, with murdering Repossessor Tim Nielsen.

“It wasn’t on purpose, I really feel like. I believe it was accidental,” Hein said of the shooting at Dragula’s 2022 preliminary hearing. Hein told police that Griffin had a BB gun and Dragula had a pistol, leading to the conclusion that Dragula was the shooter, according to court records.

But Dragula’s lawyer says that Hein had some serious credibility issues that raised doubts about his “self-serving” statements to police. This includes three active misdemeanor cases for alleged crimes of moral turpitude, including a domestic violence case filed earlier this year.

Contrary to Mr. Hein’s statements made to the police and under the penalty of perjury at the preliminary hearing, Mr. Hein’s cell phone showed that he got out of the car several times on the night of the shooting, including moments before the shooting itself,” defense lawyer Seth Morris said in court filings.

He added that Hein’s history “showed a pattern of criminality, moral turpitude, dishonesty, and evidence that when Mr. Hein is arrested with co-parts, he tends to minimize his own conduct and blame others.”

Dragula was transferred to North Kern State Prison on June 25th, where he remains, records show. He receives credit for the time he spent in jail since he was arrested in late 2021, but must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence, court records show. Griffin was prosecuted as a juvenile, according to court records.

Mr. Dragula has maintained his innocence since the day of his arrest,” Morris said.

Source: San Jose Mercury News

Outrage

Outrageous is all I can say. I wish I was surprised, but I’m not. This is California. Worse yet, The San Francisco Bay Area.

Alameda County has a long history of ultra-liberal judges and district attorneys. The current DA is Ursula Jones Dickson who replaced George Soros campaign funded Pamela Price in a special election in November of 2024’. Among prior county DA’s was former Presidential candidate Kamela Harris, who local police despised presenting cases to due to her consistent failure to prosecute even the most violent of crimes.

The life of a father of four, a man just doing his job, and two of these three are already back on the streets while the last one will be out in just a couple of years at most. Sickening.

For Tim’s family and friends, their loss is that of a lifetime. For the three who committed and aided in his killing, its memory will likely last an eternity. Seek not justice on earth. Vengeance is Mine saith the Lord.

May God have mercy on their souls.

Kevin Armstrong

Publisher