PUC staff asks ALJ to penalize unpermitted tow operator after Denver motorist's vehicle held for nearly $3,000

Administrative Law Judge Aviv Segev heard testimony on Jan. 15, 2026 in Case No. 25G0550 after staff presented a civil penalty assessment alleging that an individual operating as Rocky Mountain Towing and Recovery towed a Denver motorist in August 2025 without an active towing permit or the required insurance.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Katie McLaughlin, representing staff of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, told the hearing: "Mr. Nori Arrayeth has been operating and presenting himself through several means." McLaughlin asked the ALJ to impose a penalty, issue a cease-and-desist order stopping the respondent from operating until he has an active permit, and order a refund to Progressive Insurance.

Investigator Joseph Potts, a criminal investigator with the Public Utilities Commission, testified that he was assigned a complaint by Mia Brazeau about a tow after an accident on Aug. 21, 2025. Potts said he could not find an active PUC towing permit for Rocky Mountain Towing in the agency's databases and located an application that had expired or been dismissed. Potts said the company ‘‘applied for a towing permit. However, their insurance information never got filed with the PUC, so the application expired and was dismissed.’'

Potts described Brazeau's account that a tow operator approached her at the scene, "told her that he worked directly with insurance companies and offered to tow her vehicle," and that after the vehicle was impounded she was told she owed nearly $3,000 to retrieve it. The record includes an invoice dated Sept. 5, 2025 that Potts said Progressive Insurance ultimately paid.

Evidence entered at the hearing included: the CPAN (staff Exhibit 100), the towing permit application (Exhibit 101), Secretary of State business records (Exhibits 102 and 103, the latter showing the business voluntarily dissolved Oct. 15, 2025), the complainant's composite report (Exhibit 104), invoices (Exhibits 105 and 106), a downloaded Rocky Mountain Towing website (Exhibit 107) and a business card obtained from the owner of US Towing (Exhibit 108). Potts testified the phone number on the website and invoices matched the number he associated with the respondent.

Potts also said he called the telephone number associated with the business in mid-September and that the owner of US Towing told him the respondent was a former employee who had used US Towing's name and permit number on business cards and invoices. Potts described efforts to serve the CPAN in person on Oct. 15, 2025 at an address listed with the Secretary of State that were unsuccessful; the CPAN was later sent by certified mail and email, with tracking showing delivery on Oct. 24, 2025 and an emailed copy dated Oct. 21, 2025.

At the hearing, Potts recommended the ALJ impose a civil penalty, issue a cease-and-desist order barring the respondent from operating until an active towing permit is obtained, and require a refund to Progressive Insurance. McLaughlin repeated those requests in closing.

Judge Segev said he would take the matter under advisement and "issue a written recommended decision." No final agency order was issued at the hearing.