Who would've thought a repo man could be a hero?

Well, Maryland State Police say a repo man helped catch an alleged car thief -- a tow truck driver who was picking up abandoned cars on roadsides and selling them for scrap. A repo man searching for a 2000 Infinity was informed by the woman who had possession of the car that she had left it on the side of I-695 at I-83 because it had broken down. The repo man checked the car wasn't there.

The repo guy turned on the car's GPS system and followed the signal to a recylcling yard on Erdman Avenue in East Baltimore. He called state police who found the vehicle; the owner of the yard said he payed the rego man $325 for the car.

The Regional Auto Theft Task Force then got involved and found three other cars reported stolen on the yard, and all had been left on roadsides as disabled. They were a 1991 Volkswagon, a 1997 Chevrolet Lumina and a 2001 Nissan Altima. As many as seven more cars had been towed to the lot, police said, adding that up to 80 might have been stolen and recycled at the yard this year.

Not a bad business. The suspect seen above in a picture provided by the Maryland State Police, Charles Jennings III, 38, of Labyrinth Road in Baltimore, has been charged in Baltimore County with four counts of auto theft and four counts of theft over $500. He is being held at the detention center on $50,000 bond.

We all suspect towing schemes are active; this only confirms that some people who leave their cars don't get towed for legitimate reasons. I'd love to hear from people who have left their broken cars only to have them mysteriously disappear.