JAMESTOWN, N.Y. (WIVB) – A Jamestown man thought he did the right thing by turning in his license plates to the Chautauqua County Department of Motor Vehicles, but years later was hit with hundreds of dollars in tolls from New York City, all tied to his old plate number.
He’s not alone.
Like many others, he’s turning to Call 4 Action for help — and WIVB News 4 has been digging into this problem for months and is once again getting answers and delivering results.
For weeks, News 4 has been sharing the stories of local drivers going to the Jamestown Department of Motor Vehicles at 512 West 3rd Street to surrender their license plates. For Peter Feraldi, he surrendered his plates in 2023, then over two years later, began getting toll bills tied to those old plates as congestion pricing got underway in New York City this year.
“I had sold the vehicle and I did not replace it, so I turned the plates in just so I could take it off my insurance,” Feraldi said.
Peter Feraldi thought it was that simple when he surrendered his license plates to the Jamestown Department of Motor Vehicles on July 21, 2023. DMV policy says plate combinations, once they’re surrendered and destroyed are never to be used again.
For Peter, the red flags went right up when he started getting hit by tolls from New York City tied to his old plates at the beginning of the year.
“At first, I thought it was some type of scam or a way for someone to get money out of me,” Feraldi said.
As the bills continued to come in, so did the threats of being sent to collections.
Peter saw a white Honda Civic — with his old plate number — racking up hundreds of dollars in tolls on New York City bridges and in Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone or CRZ.
What is congestion pricing?
In New York City’s Congestion Relief Zone — drivers heading into Manhattan south of 60th Street have to pay a toll depending on the type of vehicle they have and the time of day, as a way to relieve traffic congestion. After much controversy, still to this day, congestion pricing started in New York City on Jan. 5.
Peter started getting tolls in the days and weeks after congestion pricing began. Some of the tolls are as expensive as $13.30 each.
Toll evaders have been using “ghost cars,” with fake and altered plates to avoid New York City tolls.
“I did pay the first couple of fines, but as they continue to roll in my wife, my daughters said, ‘you’ve got to go to the police,'” Feraldi said.
Peter contacted the New York City Sheriff’s Office.
According to a supplemental incident report, Peter called police on July 2 to report his story, then just five days later deputies located the white Honda Civic parked on a street in the Bronx with Peter’s old license plate number on both the front and back of the car. The report says: “due to the improper and potentially fraudulent use of license plates, the vehicle was towed,” away.
A Google maps street view of the address shows multiple apartment buildings where the car was found. News 4 attempted to contact the New York City Sheriff’s Office but did not hear back.
To Peter, the new development on the car being found was stunning.
“It was a huge relief,” Feraldi said, “I feel bad for the other people that are in this.”
Once Peter contacted Call 4 Action, we began calling transportation agencies in New York City such as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Thruway Authority to get answers on Peter’s situation and the toll bills he was hit with.
“With your influence, it has sped things up, I have received phone calls, I received emails, that the charges are being dropped,” Feraldi said, “I’d like to express my gratitude to you and Channel 4 for clearing this up because I was getting nowhere on my own.”
Hitting dead ends as a victim of license plate fraud is a common theme.
It can take months to get untangled from the onslaught of toll bills, speeding tickets and other traffic infractions, while navigating the plethora of New York City transportation agencies and being forced to defend yourself from potential legal action.
Call 4 Action has heard from multiple people who have gone to the Jamestown DMV to surrender their license plates, thinking they were doing the right thing, only to find their old plate numbers on different cars hours away, and being hit with bogus toll bills months or even years later, significantly affecting their lives.
“There has to be some weak link in the chain that eventually has to be just obvious, there’s too many coincidences, I just count on law enforcement to figure it out,” Feraldi said.
The state DMV says it’s “actively investigating” concerns of fraud at the Jamestown DMV and in Chautauqua County and says it has required the county to strengthen security measures at county DMVs.
After Call 4 Action stepped in, Peter Feraldi’s old plate number has been flagged by the Port Authority and the Thruway Authority. The MTA says the erroneous tolls sent to Peter have been reversed and he should not be getting any future erroneous tolls.
NYC’s Department of Finance is taking steps to get tickets and judgments against Peter dropped. The Department of Finance says there was a total of four summonses including one judgment summons issued to Peter. All four have been disputed and a judgment summons has been dismissed. The other three remaining summonses are pending a decision from adjudications that will be mailed to Peter.
Getting the ghost plates flagged in these systems is perhaps the fastest way to get the toll bills to stop.
State Senator George Borrello and State Assemblymember Scott Gray, both Republicans, have introduced legislation in Albany to increase the penalties from license plate fraud. Both are calling for a public hearing to be held on the issue in the new session, which begins in January.
More on License Plate Fraud
Jeff Preval is an award-winning anchor and reporter who joined the News 4 team in December 2021. See more of his work here.
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