SEATTLE - Seattle parking enforcement wages a daily battle against cars that look abandoned. Nearly 300 complaints per day come in - 54,000 a year are investigated.

KING

But it's only when parking enforcement slaps on a "threat to tow within 72 hours" that the cars start moving.

Junk cars started showing up around Stu Heinecke's Interbay business last summer.

"This one had been left for about 30 days, shifted around, now it's back again," he said.

He thought they were stolen. But when Heinecke called parking enforcement he learned he was the victim of "car ranching."

This means, they herd their cars around. They own a herd of cars and move them all over the city, and the pasture is parking in front of your house or business.

Heinecke isn't alone. Greg Carmen has repeatedly written the city asking to have something done about all of the junk cars stored on the street, making it hard for his customers and employees to find parking.

Carmen says the junkers briefly disappear whenever parking enforcement tags them with that 72-hour notice.

"And he'll move them two blocks away and then he'll move them back over in the area again," said Carmen.

It's not hard to find the car rancher. We just looked for all of the junk cars spilling out of his yard, and the repairs being done right on the street.

Linda Byron: We're with KING 5, we want to know why you have so many cars parked on the street.

James Rutherford: Well, I buy a few, get them for my friends, give them to my family.

Rutherford must have a lot of friends and family. We searched state records and found he's bought more than 80 abandoned cars at auctions over the past 3 years. When confronted, Rutherford tried another explanation. 

Rutherford: I'd say community service.

Byron: What you're doing is a community service?

Rutherford: Yes, of course, offering people good running cars at a low price.

Byron: What about taking up all the parking around here? That may be a neighborhood disservice.

Traffic captain Fred Hill says all police can do is put on the pressure.

"We can chase them all over town. For some of these people it's a 24/7 cat-and-mouse game they play with us," he said.

For months we watched the cat-and-mouse game in action. Rutherford's herd of approximately a dozen-and-a-half vehicles moved around the corner and up and down the street time and time again. 

Parking enforcement officers call them "chronics."

KING 5 asked if they ever tow them.

"I've never towed it," was the response. "Because you have to give notice before you can tow."

Parking enforcement doesn't know how many car ranchers there are in Seattle, but based on thousands and thousands of complaints, they are keenly aware of the trouble spots, from Magnolia to Ballard, Lake City to north Seattle, herds of cars consistently show up and stay until parking enforcement moves them along.

Only the state Department of Licensing appears to have the power to stop people like Rutherford, so we took our investigation to them.

Byron: I conclude he's a curbstoner - someone who buys and sells vehicles without the benefit of a dealer license.

Rutherford knows he's supposed to have a dealer's license if he sells more than four cars in a year.

Byron: There's a law that says you have to transfer the title within 15 days.

Rutherford: Yeah, I might sell five next year, too.

Byron: Sounds like you'd better get a license.

Rutherford: I'd better do something.

Our investigation prompted the state to put Rutherford on notice that he's dealing in motor vehicles without a license, in violation of state law.

Byron: Are you going to let this guy go?

"We're not going to let him go," was the answer. The Department of Licensing says it will fine Rutherford $1,000 for every car he sells illegally.

And if they have to send him a second notice and he doesn't comply, he'll be in contempt of court and could go to jail.

To report abandoned vehicles, call the City of Seattle's Abandoned Vehicle Hotline at (206) 684-8763. Per Seattle City Ordinance a vehicle is considered abandoned after it has been left unmoved for 72 hours or more. If the vehicle is creating a traffic hazard, call 911.