Semana Santa Exodus Begins
Victims Suffer Ordeal
To Recover Their Stolen Vehicles From
Judicial Lot
Geriatric Hospital At Full Capacity. And
Then Some As Families Abandon Their Elderly
Locomotives For The
San José - Heredia To Arrive Tomorrow
Thursday, Friday and Saturday Legal Holidays
New archaeological discoveries being made in
Guanacaste
Victims Suffer Ordeal To Recover Their
Stolen Vehicles From Judicial Lot
Victims
of vehicle theft say they feel victimized
all over again when they try to recover
their vehicles from the authorities, that
are held at the Depósito Judicial de
Vehículos en San Joaquín de Flores, in
Heredia.
The problem stems from the complex and time
consuming legal process, which can take
months, while the vehicles sit in the sun,
exposed to dirt, contamination and abuse.
According to the Organismo de Investigación
Judicial (OIJ) some 1.668 stolen vehicles
were recovered in 2008, 980 which are still
in the judicial lot. The OIJ would not break
down how many of the vehicles had been
stolen.
For a vehicle to be released a court order
is required, a process that can take months,
even up to a year in some rare cases,
notwithstanding a directive by the Fiscalía
General that says vehicles should be
returned to their rightful owners as soon as
possible.
The objective of the directive is not to
victimize the owners a second time, which is
the case most of the times, as the cars sit
in the judicial lots, uncared for, even with
their windows open and exposed to the
elements, until the court order is issued.
Jorge Rojas, director of the OIJ, defends
his organization by saying that the vehicles
in actuality are in the hands of the
judicial police only for hours, after they
are the responsibility of the prosecutors
and the judges.
One of the main problems with the recovery
of the vehicles by their owners is problems
with the vehicle's registration, as many car
buyers decide not to register a transfer of
ownership with the Registro Nacional
(national registry), avoiding to pay the
transfer tax and legal costs.
It's in these cases where the vehicle sits
in the judicial lot until the ownership
problem is solved, taking months.
Fiscal Maribel Bustillo, head of the
Fiscalía de Robo de Vehículos, said that
another problem facing car owners in getting
their vehicles back, are alterations made to
the vehicle, like changing the colour of the
paint, altering or filing down serial
numbers, etc., which all take time to sort
out.
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