Repo Men Charged with Assault in Car Recovery Case

First off, let’s meet our cast of characters:

• Sara Bradley, 25-year-old unwed mother of a 5 year-old-daughter
• Kalley, said 5-year-old daughter
• Charles Murphy, fiancé of Ms. Bradley
• Robert Simeone Jr., repo man
• Michael Simeone, repo 17-year-old boy

Yesterday, the Boston Globe, friend to debt collectors everywhere, ran a breaking news item on its website: Debt collectors charged with assaulting young mother. In order to draw renewed attention to its award-winning series, “Debtor Hell,” the Globe provided links to the series in the breaking news item, even though later in the story the Globe reveals that, rather than being debt collectors, the men involved in the harrowing story of the soon-to-be-repossessed 2000 Ford Focus were repo men for their father’s business, South Shore Auto Recovery.

The story gets a write-up in today’s print edition of the Globe, where the “debt collector” moniker is replaced with “repo men.”

Sara Bradley was leaving her “future mother-in-law’s house” with her daughter, Kalley, and fiancé in tow.  Michael and Robert Simeone, who, apparently, had been in wait for Ms. Bradley, approached the car, tried to remove the keys from the ignition, and in the process allegedly hit Ms. Bradley and broke her necklace (almost exactly like in Adam Bede by George Eliot, y’all!  Where my VicLitters at?).

Ms. Bradley, fearing she was being carjacked, sped off in the $250-in-late-payments car.  At a stop light, Robert Jr. climbed on top of the Ford Focus where he began “pounding on the windshield like a madman.”

Ms. Bradley then drove herself, her daughter, her fiancé, and Robert Jr., to the police station where Robert and Michael were arrested and the Focus, finally, was repossessed.

Of course, no one believes anyone else (the brothers allege that they never hit Ms. Bradley or broke her necklace; Ms. Bradley alleges that she was never presented with any paperwork alerting her to the fact that she had missed several payments), and while Michael Simeone was held on a $10,000 cash bail, his brother Robert Jr. was held without bail because of a pending drug charge.

All are scheduled to appear in court June 21.