It might be called the case of the missing cars.

But residents of Folsom's Esplanade Circle are more apt to refer to it as the case of the missing morals.

In early February, several residents of the private condominium community awoke to find their vehicle towed because of updated CC&Rs recently approved by the homeowner association's five-member board.

"It's Draconian the way they are going about it," said Henry Collins, an Esplanade resident for almost three years. "It's really putting a burden on the residents."

Since the parking restrictions were revised, Chuck Tolbert, who has organized a resident's resistance group, said at least 50 cars have been towed.

"It's out of control," Tolbert said. "We're trying to go by the rules so we don't get towed, and we're still getting towed."

The price to retrieve towed vehicles is a minimum of $220, Tolbert said. An additional fee of $40 for each additional 24 hours the vehicle remains at the H B Towing storage area in Rancho Cordova applies. H B Towing has done most of the towing from Esplanade Circle.

Tolbert and about 140 other residents have signed a petition that states they are in full disagreement with the new parking rules and regulations.

The newly adopted regulation states, in part, "Residents and Guests parked in the community for greater than 3 overnight periods within 7 days will be towed immediately."

The residents petition goes on to say they want no spaces marked or designated for guest parking. The petition also says the board of directors heard from many homeowners regarding their feelings on the issue and none of their concerns were taken into consideration.

The petition calls for removal of the current board of directors with new members voted into place.

The Esplanade condo units each include an undersized one-car garage, not sufficient for medium- to large-sized trucks.

"One of the residents is a contractor who parks his large truck on the street because it won't fit into his garage," Tolbert said. "When he explained his situation to a representative of VierraMoore (the property management company in charge of Esplanade Circle), she told him he needs to get a smaller vehicle."

VierraMoore did not return several phone calls.

Residents with multiple-car families are forced to park sometimes several miles away to avoid being towed.

Tolbert said his 17-year-old daughter Chelsey must park her vehicle a mile away at Briggs Ranch in front of a friend's house and call her parents for a ride the rest of the way home.

Some residents are parking at Raley's supermarket lot and others are making arrangements to park at neighbor's houses far-removed from the Espalande Circle neighborhood.

"I'm not parking outside on the street at all now," Collins said.

In an e-mail obtained by the Telegraph, a concerned resident admitted to Tiana Watson, a representative for VierraMoore, that she was so distressed by the parking situation she was ready to move.

Watson, in an e-mail response said, "It is interesting to hear that people are ready to move. I would wish them good luck. I know of many units that have been on the market for quite some time and still have not sold."

Tolbert said Leslie Duffy, a member of the homeowner association's board of directors and a resident of Esplanade Circle, refuses to answer her door or questions about the situation. Tolbert said Duffy went so far as to call the police when he attempted to get her to answer the door.

"We just wanted to talk to her," Tolbert said.

Noah DiMuccio, a firefighter for Cal Fire in Auburn, said his Dodge truck was towed a couple of weeks ago.

"I had only been parked on the street about six hours," DiMuccio said. "It's ridiculous. When my vehicle was towed, I asked the tow truck driver why other vehicles that I knew had been parked on the street just as long as mine were not towed. He said, 'We don't have enough trucks to tow everybody.'"

DiMuccio is at a loss as to why the new parking restrictions were put in place.

He said he did a study on the area's available parking spaces in the evening hours and found an average of 40 open spots a night.

"There was no problem," said DiMuccio, who now parks his truck about a mile away at his in-law's house.

Bob Triplett, a Folsom police officer, has lived at Esplanade for about four years.

"Since they changed the parking rules, I get up every morning, grab the newspaper and check to see if my car's still there," Triplett said. "There's definitely a scam going on here and there's nothing we can do about it."