Complaint Review: Nationwide Book & Magazine Distributors - Irving Texas

We have driven trucks for Nationwide Book & Magazine twice in our driving career. The first time, in 2006, we were assigned a tractor with over 2 million miles on it. Dugan Long, our supervisor, said to pick up at TEC in Wilsonville, OR, which we did. There was no oil in the engine. We then added oil and got it down the road. In 3 days of driving, the truck broker down 3 times. Upon returning to OR we took it to Freightliner in Brooks, OR, where they found 111 Federal DOT Safety violations.

After speaking with other drivers, this was a common occurrence. This firm also encourages its drivers to break the speed laws, and violate log books to do so. They will even write you up if you do not "perform" hours of service that they designate even though the assignment might be impossible due to traffic, weather conditions, construction, etc. Team drivers might run 2000 miles per week.

Dugan Long is the Terminal Manager of the Portland division. He comes across as a likeable person who "buys" things for your truck in order to keep you happy. He also, however, is an opportunist, a "Blue Suede Shoes" man, a sh_t-talker in the nth degree.

Dugan is a biker wannabe, never shows up for work at his office, you must find him on his cellphone if it is absolutely necessary to reach him. He answers to Tim Sands, of Denver, another Blue Suedes Shoe man. These Blue Suede Shoes men talk out of both sides of their mouths, smiling at you the whole time.

Dugan apparently doesn't get paid enough by Nationwide to pay for his lifestyle of cheating on his wife, Crissie, a very nice McDonalds store manager, so he seeks "kickbacks" from those who work for and with him. One such case was Earl Spears. owner of Earl's Mobile Service, who mechaniced for Mr. Long and Nationwide out of Mark Brown's yard in Sherwood, OR. Dugan had told us on several occasions that he "had something on Earl" which was the fact that he "had seen a stolen suburban in a container in the yard at Vancouver,WA and if Earl ever got in his way he would report him to the Feds." He told us the second time we came back to work for Nationwide that Earl was paying him 20% of all work done for Nationwide as a "kickback" for being their mechanic.

When Earl started to squeal about having to pay the kickbacks on approximately $120,000 worth of mechanic's work over the course of 9 months, Dugan fired him, sending a letter to Nationwide that he had found Earl stealing oil from the company. He then approached us to become the mechanics, knowing how much we disliked being over-the -road with so much downtime with his firm.

This is a simple case of Theft of over $18,000 in hand and power tools that occurred on May 19, 2007.

Only 4 people knew the location of these tools (a lifetime collection of mechanic's and contractor tools including sanders, welding equipment, nailers, handtools, compressors, etc.).

These four people all were connected to our employer's supervisor, William Dugan Long. The four were either Mr. Long's son, Mr. Long's previously fired mechanic Earl Scruggs, Earl's Mobile Garage, and two men hired by Mr. Long through a company in Portland to pressure wash (Snugs Pressure Wash) semi tractor equipment in a yard in Sherwood, OR.

Mr.Long (Nationwide Book & Magazine Distributors, Irving, Texas) hired us to perform mechanic work on his firm's semi trailers out of a storage yard in Sherwood, OR. He came to our home and examined our shop and its contents the weekend prior to the moving of all the tools. He encouraged us to bring everything with us, as 'you just don't know what tools you might need.' He provided us with a key to a storage semi trailer and helped us load the tools into the trailer, which already contained some items purchased by Nationwide. We commented as he cut the lock off the former mechanics' trailer, these master locks don;t seem very secure, and he promised to get case-hardened locks the same day. These never materialized.

The day after the move, Mr. Long called us in the afternoon, claiming his Harley broke down and could we rescue him. He explained when we arrived at the location about 15 miles from the jobsite, that his son (who was recently released from prison) had also broken down in Mr. Long's pickup and could not come himself.

We had locked the tool trailer with the lock Mr. Long had provided us prior to leaving to rescue him. The time it took to load and deliver him and his bike to his home in Tualatin was approximately 3 hours, long enough for someone with a copy of the key to eyeball the tool inventory knowing we were otherwise engaged.

For 3 days we used the tools and slept at the yard, on the 3rd day the pressure washer firm, Snug's Mobile Wash, came to the yard and observed us putting away our tools and leaving the yard. We went home for two nights. On the 3rd day Mr. Long called us and told us the tools we had moved into the trailer were GONE.

After 4 hours of phone calls back and forth Mr. Long finally calls the illustrious Washington County Sheriff's Department out of Beaverton, Oregon. Officer Mark Amos arrives with a civilian rider. He immediately instructs us to step away from the trailer, as he has to make his examination.

Mr. Long arrives after the officer and claims, after looking in the trailer a second time (remember, he discovered the theft) and tells all of us he has a set of Thunderbird wheels stolen also.

We encouraged Officer Amos to make fingerprints. He did not want to do so, citing that 'neighborhood crack addicts were surely responsible for the theft' and 'we will never find out who did this.' Mr. Long tells Officer Amos that he used to work for Washington County Sheriff's Department, which was news to us. We were only told he 'only had one more strike against him before he had the 3 strikes, you're in jail problem.'

Later that day Mr. Long claimed to have talked to the fired mechanic, Mr. Spears who claimed he 'didn't know anything about any theft' and that he (Dugan) had sent his son to the local fence's house where he had bought tools previously to 'look in the windows for our tools.'

Within one week Mr. Long quit returning our calls after begging us not to tell his supervisor, Tim Sand of Nationwide Book & Magazine Distributors in Denver, CO, as he was sure he would be fired for having us place our tools in his trailer with his help. We called Mr. Sand 10 days after the theft, to inform him of the theft and the case number and detective's name and number.

The next month we hired an attorney to contact Mr.Long and Mr.Sand's employer, Ben Madill, owner of Nationwide Book & Magazine in Irving, Texas. Of course Mr. Madill denied that Mr. Long ever told us to move our tools, even though there are credible witnesses that saw him help load them into the Nationwide trailer on May 16. He also said that Nationwide carries no insurance on their equipment for theft.

Four months go by, and we are without tools or word of the investigation, and of course we have left the employ of Nationwide Book & Magazine, who is now denying that they ever hired us as mechanics, ever told us to load our tools into their trailer, and that they have no insurance or liability.

Finally, we contact the District Attorney's office, at the advice of Officer Jon Shaver, Washington County Sheriff's Department by certified mail. They have never responded after 45 days of receipt of our questions about why this felony theft has not been properly investigated.

Yesterday we received an email from a different detective, Gary Jensen, that the case has been closed, no suspects, that several interviews were conducted, and oh, by the way, we can pay for a copy of the police report.

BEWARE - Dugan Long knows who took our tools, probably even is enjoying some of them as we speak! He told us a week after the theft how badly he felt for us because all of his tools were purchased from 'fences who had just gotten them through similar thefts!' He is a smooth operator - we trusted and liked him as a person until he quit returning our calls a week after the theft!

Ironman

Victim of Crime, Oregon

U.S.A.

Blackbeard

Waldport, Oregon

U.S.A.