Green Bay, WI –January 31, 2012 – A Wisconsin Repo Man stands accused of carjacking after allegedly approaching a borrower without identifying himself and ended up jumping onto the car, holding the roof rack and riding on the running board as the frightened borrower sped away.
The borrower, Andrea Blanke, reported to deputies that a man in a black jacket and hooded sweatshirt approached her on foot in the middle of the road while she was driving and told her, “I’m gonna need your car.”
But 26 year old Mitchell L. Collin has a different story. Collin alleges that he called the authorities just after jumping off the vehicle and advised them that he was attempting to repossess the car.
Collin reported to the sheriff’s deputies that he had identified himself to the borrower, Blanke, and showed her some paperwork from a credit company.
Unfortunately, for Collin, according to the complaint, he did not have court ordered paperwork signed by a judge that gave authority to repossess the vehicle.
Collin is scheduled for his first court appearance on February 11 and, if found guilty of the auto theft felony, could face a maximum three years imprisonment and $5,000 fine.
A few things wrong with this scenario that most any repossession professional knows. He had no business jumping onto the roof of her car for starters. He should have tried a much different tactic here. But the thing that bothers me in this article is that it states that, “according to the complaint, he did not have court ordered paperwork signed by a judge that gave authority to repossess the vehicle”. That used to be the law in Wisconsin…no self help repossession in most cases. And I’m amazed at how many police officers still don’t know the repossession law there. In November of 2005 the State of Wisconsin enacted a new law that took effect on April 13, 2006 (Wisconsin Act 255). This brought Wisconsin repossession laws in line with the rest of the nation. So, in this case, Mr. Collin would not have needed authority from a judge to attempt to repossess the car from the debtor. Obviously, once she objected to the peaceful repossession he had a breech of peace on his hands and should have backed off rather than taking a ride on the roof of the car putting his life in peril. But a breech of peace is a civil matter not a criminal matter. In my opinion, if they were bound and determined to lock him up they needed to find some other reason to do it. If he is smart enough to get an attorney these charges will be thrown out and a sheriff’s department will get brought up to speed on a law that is 7 years old. I still hear from clients that think Wisconsin isn’t a self help state. By the way…I do own a repossession company in Wisconsin but Mr. Collin does not work for me. I don’t know him, never heard of him, never met him.
Well said Mr. Sullivan, The action of jumping on the roof of a vehicle out for repossession is bizarre. This is an example of why you cannot purchase compliance. Compliance is the result of due dilegence, training and having proper operating policies and procedures. This gentleman seems to exhibit a lack of knowlege of what is considered appropriate field operations procedures. We as owners have to be willing to invest heavily in our employees training and insist on complete adherance to that training.
“Collin alleges that he called the authorities just after jumping off the vehicle and advised them that he was attempting to repossess the car.”
The law in Wisconsin requires that he report a repossession prior to the attempt. Since he apparently did not do so, he could find himself in a more tenious situation.
I think he should have been arrested, but there is no law that I know of for being stupid. You do not walk up on an occupied vehicle and have a resonable expectation of repossessing it.
Had he been properly trained and screened by his employer , this stupid incident would have been avoided.
Eric C.
Happy hunting and be safe
There are several things wrong with this article. First, Wisconsin is a self-help state, and there is no written permission needed from a judge to take a vehicle. Secondly, in order to self help in Wisconsin, you have to abide by the code of not breaching the peace. Once the agent was told no, he needs to stop that attempt and walk away. Period. By jumping on the running boards and holding on to the roof rack is completely unacceptable. Like other posts before mine, it all comes down to training, training, and training. The rules MUST be spelled out completely, with consequences to follow, up to and including termination, as in this case.
If he owns his own business, expect to hear from an attorney who will be happy to take the case and sue him for plenty. If he works for someone, I hope that the company has plenty of insurance to cover this dolt and his egregious errors in repossession.
If he is really working to repossess this vehicle, there is no way that he will be convicted of auto theft. This is a civil matter that will have to be worked out between his lawyer and the debtor’s lawyer.
All this over a truck…………….
Any repo man knows from experience how trustworthy and truthful a debtor can be.. Perhaps the whole story is not being told here.. I agree with dave.. These officers as well as the distric attourney should be brought up to speed.. It doesn’t add up. Why would he jump onto the side of the vehicle, only jepordizing his own life with nothing to gain.. Seems weird to me.
Happy hunting