Date: March 13, 2025
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal grand jury has indicted Jose Vicente Badillo on one count of conspiracy to commit arson in connection with an alleged scheme to burn tow trucks throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in 2023. Badillo made his initial appearance in federal district court this morning.
According to the indictment unsealed earlier today, Badillo of San Francisco, conspired with others to set fire to at least six tow trucks on four occasions between April 2023 and October 2023. Specifically, Badillo and his co-conspirators allegedly set fire to and damaged or destroyed (i) two tow trucks in San Francisco on April 4, 2023; (ii) one tow truck in San Francisco on April 29, 2023; (iii) one tow truck in East Palo Alto on July 25, 2023; and (iv) two tow trucks in San Francisco on Oct. 3, 2023.
The indictment describes that the purpose of the conspiracy was, among other things, to drive more business to two Bay Area-based towing companies with which Badillo was associated—Auto Towing and Specialty Towing—by impeding the business prospects of competitor towing companies, and to retaliate against those same competitors for perceived wrongs. Badillo allegedly orchestrated the conspiracy and then directed others to set fire to the targeted tow trucks.
Badillo is next scheduled to appear in district court on March 20, 2025, at 10:30 a.m., before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim for arraignment and identification of counsel. Badillo is facing unrelated federal charges of money laundering and insurance fraud in two other pending cases.
Acting United States Attorney Patrick D. Robbins, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge of the Oakland Field Office Linda Nguyen, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani made the announcement.
An indictment merely alleges that a crime has been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, Badillo faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas M. Parker is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Andy Ding and Laurie Worthen. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the IRS-CI and FBI. This investigation is assigned to the FBI SF Transnational Organized Crime Task Force, an interagency task force targeting sophisticated organized crime syndicates that engage in, among other offenses, violent crimes, extortion, fraud, arson, and drug trafficking. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI, and IRS-CI thank the San Francisco Police Department for its substantial assistance and support in this investigation.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.