Plumber sues car dealer after spotting truck in ISIL video

An alleged photo of a US plumbing company's pickup truck used by Daesh militants in Syria.
An American plumber has filed a lawsuit against a car dealership after spotting a pickup truck he once owned in a Daesh (ISIL) video.


Mark Oberholtzer, the owner of Texas-based company “Mark-1 Plumbing,” is suing a Ford dealership for more than $1 million over damages to his company’s reputation after his company car, which still had the company’s phone number on it, ended up in the hands of Daesh terrorists in Syria.

Oberholtzer claims that he was harassed by hundreds of phone calls once a photo of his truck went viral.

The plumber’s lawyer wrote in the lawsuit that "by the end of the day, Mark-1's office, Mark-1's business phone, and Mark's personal cell had received over 1,000 phone calls from around the nation."

"These phone calls were in large part harassing and contained countless threats of violence, property harm, injury and even death," the lawyer added.

Oberholtzer argues that the dealership could have easily prevented the problem by simply removing the company-painted decals before reselling the truck.

According to the lawsuit, in October 2013, Oberholtzer took his Ford F-250 truck to AutoNation Ford Gulf Freeway in Houston for a trade-in.

He attempted to peel off the company's decals from the truck's door but a salesman stopped him, telling Oberholtzer that it would damage the paint, the lawsuit claims.

Oberholtzer said the salesman assured him that they would remove the company’s name and phone number before reselling the truck.

The truck was auctioned off in November 2013 and was shipped from Houston to Mersin, Turkey, the next month; only to set off a firestorm a year later after being spotted by a Twitter user.

Oberholtzer said the photo even prompted the Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to pay him visits.

The flow of Western vehicles into the hands of terrorists in the Middle East and other parts of the world has attracted global attention.

In October, the US Treasury Department sought information from Toyota about its Hilux pickup trucks and convoys of Land Cruisers featured in ISIL propaganda videos.

Toyota said in response that it did not know how the terrorist organization got hold of the vehicles.

The Daily Telegraph reported in August that more than 800 Toyota Hilux pickup trucks were reported “missing” in Sydney, Australia, between 2014 and 2015. Terrorism officials said they believed the vehicles may have been exported to territory controlled by ISIL.

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/12/16/442011/US-Plumber-Mark1-Daesh

Have truck, will trave !!!!!!

Oh dear! I'm sorry he's had threats of violence, but there is something amusing about the sight of that truck with the logo on it.

A well travelled truck!

so no one is asking the bigger question why are US car dealers selling second hand cars to terrorists.

I laugh in the face on Everyone that says this is a war of Morals and not Profit.
we have made a new consumer of western goods in Syria

It wasn't sold to terrorists.  It was auctioned off, and sold to a dealer in Mersin, Turkey.  From there, who knows how it got into the hands of ISIL?  But alas, it had his name on the side.

He wanted to remove his name from the door, but the dealer to whom he sold it said they wanted to do it.  Just a reminder of the old adage: If you want something done, do it yourself!

Anyhow...the truck performs well, and it carries an anti-aircraft canon quite well, so they say.

So the people who have made death threats really think that Mark-1 Plumbing is a company which is supplying ISIS, and is so proud to do so that they supply ISIS with trucks with the logo on the side.

Now that the true story is out there, perhaps they will stop. If they don't, perhaps the police should concentrate on rounding them up and prosecuting them for making threats.

If the dealership made a verbal agreement to remove said sign and didn't they are liable, twas a verbal contract..

I have sold vehicles with signs on them so did my old man, we removed ours ourselves when sticky, the sign written painted on the actual metal ones we covered over with paint but lost money for doing it.
Nowadays you can have adhesive sheets sign written then stick them on or magnetised ones which get nicked.

Raggamuffin wrote:So the people who have made death threats really think that Mark-1 Plumbing is a company which is supplying ISIS, and is so proud to do so that they supply ISIS with trucks with the logo on the side.

Now that the true story is out there, perhaps they will stop. If they don't, perhaps the police should concentrate on rounding them up and prosecuting them for making threats.

Well, it's Harris County, Texas, again. Consider the source.

Stormee wrote:If the dealership made a verbal agreement to remove said sign and didn't they are liable, twas a verbal contract..

You are correct.  He has already filed a lawsuit.  

I imagine the dealership will argue that they wanted the sign removed for their own purposes, so there was no consideration flowing between the parties....ergo, there was no contract.  

This is belied by the fact that they didn't remove the sign, and by the fact that Mark did try to remove it...suggesting he had a motive of his own.

Original Quill wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:So the people who have made death threats really think that Mark-1 Plumbing is a company which is supplying ISIS, and is so proud to do so that they supply ISIS with trucks with the logo on the side.

Now that the true story is out there, perhaps they will stop. If they don't, perhaps the police should concentrate on rounding them up and prosecuting them for making threats.

Well, it's Harris County, Texas, again.  Consider the source.

It says that the calls were from around the nation though.

Raggamuffin wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

Well, it's Harris County, Texas, again.  Consider the source.

It says that the calls were from around the nation though.

Hahaha...undoubtedly Trump Republicans.

Original Quill wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

It says that the calls were from around the nation though.

Hahaha...undoubtedly Trump Republicans.

There's no evidence of that. It could have been Democrats ...

Raggamuffin wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

Hahaha...undoubtedly Trump Republicans.

There's no evidence of that. It could have been Democrats ...

I have no idea who the phone-callers were.  So I'm left to speculate, and they appear tone-reflexive, rather like Trump Republicans responding to the dog whistle.

Original Quill wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:

There's no evidence of that. It could have been Democrats ...

I have no idea who the phone-callers were.  So I'm left to speculate, and they appear tone-reflexive, rather like Trump Republicans responding to the dog whistle.

I thought you liked facts, not speculation.

You see Quill, you're speculating and trying to blame Republicans, but when I post a video about people trying to blame the wrong people on the San Bernardino thread, you don't like it.

Biased much?

Raggamuffin wrote:You see Quill, you're speculating and trying to blame Republicans, but when I post a video about people trying to blame the wrong people on the San Bernardino thread, you don't like it.

Biased much?

Well, at least I admit I am speculating. It's a bit of mirth, sprinkled with a tinge of wisdom...who but Trump Republicans would have such a mindless, knee-jerk response as to accuse our friend "Mark" of supplying ISIL with arms because his god-forsaken pick-up truck ended up in such a ridiculous mess?

Ya gotta admit the story has a bit of a giggle to it.