KANSAS CITY, MO — A 44-year-old man was arrested Sunday after allegedly running a fraudulent towing operation in which he used homemade magnetic door signs to pose as a legitimate tow company and haul away parked cars, a scheme that collapsed when a victim noticed the company name on the truck — “RELIABLE TOWING & MORE” — was spelled “RELIABEL.”

Stanley Roy Kucharski allegedly slapped a pair of magnetic signs onto the doors of his personal flatbed truck and spent several weeks towing legally parked vehicles from apartment complexes and business lots, then charging the owners inflated “release fees” to return them. Investigators believe he successfully ran the scheme for nearly a month before a suspicious car owner photographed the truck and noticed the misspelling.

Reliabel, He Was Not

The misspelled sign — along with a phone number that connected to a voicemail greeting identifying the business as “Stan’s cell, leave a message” — prompted the victim to call police rather than pay. Officers set up a sting, reported a fake illegally parked car, and arrested Kucharski when he arrived to tow it.

“The sign said RELIABEL. One word, and he got it wrong. You had one job, Stanley. The job was spelling ‘reliable.’ You also misspelled ‘towing’ on the invoice. It said ‘TOWNING.'” — Det. Gloria Henson, Kansas City PD

Kucharski was booked into the Jackson County Jail on charges of theft, extortion, and operating a business without a license. The magnetic signs were confiscated as evidence and, per the report, “are genuinely impressive from a distance.” His JailReport.lol booking has been filed under Criminal Mastermind, generously. Bond was set at $10,000. At least nine victims have come forward seeking refunds.