Concertgoers fooled by downtown parking scheme at Second, Charlotte

DETROIT (WJBK) - Dozens of people who attended Masonic Temple in Detroit came out of the show to find their car had been towed. Turns out, they had all fallen victim to a parking scheme becoming more common downtown. 

"I didn't see any signs, it was too dark to see any signs," says Serlibrity Good. "So I parked in the lot, come out of the concert and my car is gone." Hers and dozens of others. 

Good had just left the Legends of Hip Hop concert early Sunday morning to find Goch and Sons towed her car.

She parked in the Second and Charlotte lot. No parking signs are posted there, but police say that did not a stop a guy from posing as a parking attendant and inviting scores of concertgoers into the lot.

"What we have is a person that we took into custody," said Assistant Chief James White, Detroit police. "This person appears to have been waving people into the parking lot and asking them for money. Some of the people did pay him for parking."

And they would pay far more before their night was over. Goch and Sons charged concertgoers hundreds of dollars each to retrieve their cars. Good says she had to pay $430 to get her car back. 

"And, they charged me for an extra day. They charged me for Saturday night which they didn't get it, technically it was Sunday, because it was after midnight," she adds. 

FOX 2 spoke with the lot's owner, Dan Tartarian, by phone. He says he spotted a group of men waving concertgoers into his lot. He called police and the tow truck company and both showed up late. 

"I wanted these guys to stop parking cars in that area," he says. "They are not only doing it on my properties, they are doing it on other properties on Third Avenue and different places. It has to be stopped and the city needs to ramp it up and go after these guys."

The man who owns the lot at Second and Charlotte says he doesn't allow anyone to park there for licensing and liability reasons. 

Police say Goch and Sons towed roughly 25 cars from the lot. Assistant Chief James White says you have to make sure you're parking in an authorized lot and dealing with real parking attendants.

"There should be a sign up that says how much the parking is," White says. "There should also be a sign that tells the hours of the parking, there should be a receipt or a recovery tab for the vehicle or they place the tag on the windshield of the vehicle."