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by John_Deutzman from New York City

Last Post 8 days, 3 hours Ago


You're Guilty, You're Lying, Pay Up!
Feb 11, 2008 | 10:20 PM
Category: Traffic
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    If you met Noelia Cruz like we did, you would get the impression she is a decent, honest person.  She is also the apparent victim of fraud, it looks like somebody is running around with a clone or copy of her license plate.    However, the first time she tried to point her dilemma out to a judge in the parking violations bureau, she was found guilty.  We've done several stories of people who are victims of fraud who are found guilty and have no where to turn for help.    The system simply does not seem to believe or want to hear the "it's not my car defense" but once again I will list situation in which we've prove the "it's not my car" argument is true:   1) Ticket writer fraud:  Occasionally ticket writers make up fake or phantom tickets. They use or collect legitimate license plates and make up bogus violations which go to innocent people when clearly it was not their car committing the violation.   2)Ticket writer mistake:  Ticket writers enter the wrong number or letters from a license plate and the violation goes to an innocent victim.   3)Altered License Plates:  We've caught people changing license plates with masking tape to avoid tickets.  Innocent people wind up with numerous violations because the plates have been altered  and match the innocent victims plates.   4)Counterfeit License Plates:  If you look real closely at this story you can see the "4" in the suspected fake plate looks different.  the horizontal line doesn't completely cross though the stem of the "4".  Cloned or counterfeit plates can cause innocent people to become victims. Even the red light cameras can be fooled.   Yet despite all of the stories we've done on this problem, there does not seem to a mentality in the Parking Violations Bureau to consider this possibility.  To at the very least set aside bizarre and possible fraud cases for other agencies to look at.   To add insult to injury, the judges just scribble their names, there is no place on the red light violations for the judges name  to be printed  and when we tried to find the recording of Noelia's hearing with the judge, the city lost it.
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Sanctus read my blog view my photos
Feb 11, 2008 | 10:33 PM

Good story, John. I was happy to see that there was a happy ending to the whole fiasco. I wish I was shocked by this story, but I'm not. Several years ago, I was once pulled of a subway by three undercover officers after riding past three stops. I was cursed at choked and threatened by an officer Nieves who claimed that I jumped a turnstile, something that I've never done. When I asked him to check with the token booth clerk where I had purchased my 10 pack of tokens, he told me to shut up or he would lock me up. (he used several curse words) Even though I went to the Civilian Complaint review board and they confirmed that Officer Nieves was wrong and he would be disciplined, I still had to pay the fine! When I tried to show the judge my letter from the board he told me to shut up too! You just gotta love New York sometimes!

Daniel
Rick902
Feb 11, 2008 | 10:38 PM

John,

Just to be fair, there are two plates - front and back - on autos in New York State. What proof can she provide that she did not loan one of the plates to the owner of the Black Maxima?

Rick
kpt216
Feb 11, 2008 | 10:49 PM

John,

Did anyone check to see if the red Nissan had a FRONT plate? The gray vehicle that received the otgher 2 red light summonses is the same car in both photos. Isn't it a coincidence that both cars involved are Nissans?

Kevin
jmax123 read my blog view my photos
Feb 11, 2008 | 11:09 PM

Hey John!

Do you think they will ever find the person with the altered plates?

I'm glad she got a better judge the 2nd time around.

Once I got a notice of an unpaid ticket from April in Seaside Heights, and I was definitely not there. I called, and they looked it up and asked if I had a green 2 door car, and I said no mine was a gold 4-door, and they just cancelled the summons on that phone call. No court needed. I will never know if it was altered plates, or just a not so accurate meter-attendent.

Jane
jmax123 read my blog view my photos
Feb 11, 2008 | 11:09 PM

Hey John!

Do you think they will ever find the person with the altered plates?

I'm glad she got a better judge the 2nd time around.

Once I got a notice of an unpaid ticket from April in Seaside Heights, and I was definitely not there. I called, and they looked it up and asked if I had a green 2 door car, and I said no mine was a gold 4-door, and they just cancelled the summons on that phone call. No court needed. I will never know if it was altered plates, or just a not so accurate meter-attendent.

Jane
John_Deutzman read my blog
Feb 11, 2008 | 11:27 PM

Hi guys,

Thanks for the comments. Yes her real car has front plates but more importantly, look closely at the real plate and the possible imposter plate....the imposter plate does not seem to have the horizontal line crossing the 4. It looks like a bad "copy" for lack of a better term.
It's doubtful that a women who "loaned" her plate to someone would subject herself to the scrutiny of Fox 5, two judges and the DMV. The assumtion that she comitted fraud is the same assumption the judge made.
Since when it is the job of a judge or anyone else for that matter to come up with a reason why someone just might be lying without any proof that they are lying. The only evidence that the city has is taken by a camera that can't testify in court.
gertrude1945 read my blog view my photos
Feb 12, 2008 | 7:23 PM

Mr. Deutzman, I enjoyed your report last night. I appreciate your thorough investigation. You and Mary Garafalo should team up and take on some major issue. Have you ever worked together? Also, I was wondering if you ever considered doing a story on the geographical origin of our food stuffs. I'd like to know where my fish, chicken, etc. are raised and I'd also like to know when they we butchered. I want to know whether the salmon I bought is really wild or if it's farm-raised in China and when it was caught. Please let me know your thoughts.
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John_Deutzman

John Deutzman, a New York native, has been working as a reporter at Fox 5 News since September of 2001. John has won 12 career Emmys and has received 28 Emmy nominations. He's known for his aggressive and at times humorous style when catching bad guys and exposing scams for the Fox 5 Investigative Unit. John's stories have resulted in arrests, businesses being shut down and dozens victims getting their money back from scam artists. Before moving back to New York, John spent 11 years in Miami, first as a sports reporter but when hurricane Andrew struck, John was thrown into news reporting and evenutally made the full time switch to news. John also had stints in Binghamton,New York and Springfield,Massachusetts
. A native of Smithtown,Long Island, John is an 11th-generation Long Islander. He describes himself as a 50/50 mix of his two grandfathers. One grandfather was a journalist who owned the town paper, the "Smithtown Messenger" and the other was one of the first cops in town who had a reputation for being tough and crazy but fair.

Member Since: 6/1/2006