DENVER (KDVR) — Despite Colorado ranking near the top of the list nationally for auto theft, Denver’s Right of Way Enforcement Division does not have access to a statewide database of stolen vehicles. 

According to a city spokesperson, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation rescinded access to the list to Denver’s Right of Way Enforcement Division because it’s not a police agency.

The news came as a surprise to Ed Beery, who recently received an overdue notice for a ticket that was reportedly placed on his stolen work truck more than a week after it was reported stolen.

“Eight days after we reported it stolen, the city of Denver wrote the citation,” Beery said. “It’s malfeasance.” 

Beery said the truck was eventually recovered from an impound lot two weeks later, after being stripped for parts. His company had to sell what was left of the truck and buy a new one.

“All this time is taken away from producing stuff that we do for a living, and now we have to go buy a vehicle, and for those who don’t know, that’s a fairly extensive proposition these days,” he said.

Beery wonders what condition the truck was in when the city found it parked the wrong way near Yale Avenue and Fillmore Street. 

“They weren’t suspicious about anything,” he said. “They just put the ticket on the vehicle, that was it. Well, that would suggest to me it might have been in better shape at that time than it was when we got it back. At that point, it might not have been a useless vehicle, and something we could have still put to use.”

FOX31 reached out to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and will update this story once a response is received.