ST. LOUIS • One of the purported victims of the St. Louis towing scandal has filed a civil suit against the police detective and wrecker company operators who were federally convicted of a fraud scheme.

The suit, filed Friday in St. Louis Circuit Court, alleges that Lataya Phipps is owed more than $43,000 for damages incurred after her 2002 Chevy Monte Carlo was seized by St. Louis police in February 2007 and improperly held by St. Louis Metropolitan Towing. It also asks for $387,000 in punitive damages.

The Post-Dispatch published details about Phipps' situation in 2008 as part of its investigation into the company's tactics and alleged police kickbacks.

The probe revealed that the company, owned by Kenneth and William Bialczak, illicitly blocked owners such as Phipps from reclaiming impounded vehicles and falsified title information to inflate resale values.

The Bialczak brothers were each sentenced last year to one year and one day in prison for failing to report taxes on almost $1 million. A former detective, Kevin Shade, was sentenced to 27 months after admitting he used his position to help them.

Shade accepted bribes from Gregory P. Shepard, the towing manager at Metropolitan and himself a former city officer. Shepard was sentenced Dec. 10 to 10 months in prison for mail fraud and bribery.

All four are named in the civil suit, although incorrect first names were listed for Shepard and Shade.

Phipps, of Alton, says a roommate used her car, without her knowledge, to help steal metal pipes from a storage yard. Police impounded the car, and Phipps didn't have the $250 needed to retrieve it. By the time she raised the cash, the fees more than doubled.

Metropolitan did not notify the company that financed her car, as state law requires. When nobody retrieved the vehicle, the tow lot sold it to a St. Louis police officer for $9,000.

With accumulated interest, Phipps ended up owing the lender $17,000 on what was originally a $10,000 loan. Her claim for damages includes the cost of a new Jeep Cherokee.

Tim Hogan, the attorney who filed the suit, says he is investigating the cases of 15 others he said were similarly cheated.

The Board of Police Commissioners also was named in the suit, along with nine officers who Hogan said were involved with the initial theft charge. A police spokesperson declined to comment.

The newspaper investigation also revealed the towing company had shorted the St. Louis Police Department about $700,000 from a fee-sharing agreement, which remains the subject of civil litigation, and provided cars for the use of the daughter of the then-police chief, Joe Mokwa. He resigned after the disclosure and was never criminally charged. He is also named in Phipps' civil suit and could not be reached through his former lawyer.