Bay Area woman gets mystery tickets when another driver copies her license plate
ROSS, Calif. (KGO) -- Cameras across the Bay Area catch speeders, red-light runners and toll violators.
But they couldn't catch the driver with the fake license plate.
It happened to a North Bay woman who found out someone had been driving around with a paper copy of her license plate.
And she's getting all the tickets -- with no one able to stop it.
Traffic cameras can read numbers and letters, but they can't spot a counterfeit license plate. Officials told Ross resident Stella Fisher that she may not get relief until a real officer pulls the car over.
"If I don't pay $224, they're not gonna let me register my car," Fisher said.
Fisher sorted through a pile of traffic tickets and FasTrak tolls for a car she sold months ago.
"He just ran through places I've never been, like Alvarado Niles," Fisher said.
Someone has been driving her old car with a counterfeit copy of her personalized license plate, "ART LIFE."
MORE: 'I haven't driven in SF in 20 years!' SoCal woman plagued by toll violations sent to wrong plate
Oakland's speed cameras caught the car four times.
FasTrak recorded it at dozens of Bay Area tolls. Every bill went to Fisher.
"I've spent a lot of time trying to get these things to stop and lived in fear I was gonna be pulled over and held accountable for these speeding tickets that were not mine," Fisher said.
The trouble started when Fisher traded in her 1999 Mercedes and transferred the "ART LIFE" plate to her new car.
Two months later, the tickets started arriving.
"We were trying to figure out how she got a ticket after the car had been delivered to the dealer," Wynn Hoag, Fisher's husband, said.
Fisher and her husband said ticket images showed her old car with an "ART LIFE" plate.
"So we really didn't know at that time it wasn't a real plate," Hoag said.
MORE: FasTrak warning drivers of text scam that continues to be sent to mobile phones: Here's what to know
It was speeding down Oakland streets, on 7th Street and on Hegenberger Road.
"Not only did I see my beautiful old car getting speeding tickets, but it's got my plates on it. I figured anybody could make a copy. It's the internet," Fisher said.
Later, she found dozens of unknown FasTrak toll charges on her account.
Fisher reported the phony plate, and a DMV investigation confirmed the plate "appeared to be a counterfeit."
Oakland authorities agreed.
"He brought up the images and he confirmed that it was a paper plate, a paper replica of my personalized plate," Fisher said.
Yet Fisher says no one could do anything about it.
In a letter from the DMV, an investigator said, "The license plate being used was not issued by the DMV therefore we cannot investigate or get involved."
MORE: Drivers angry DMV 'lookalikes' charge extra fees to register cars, and DMV gets a cut
Then who can?
"To have the DMV say we can't stop the person..." Hoag said.
"Which is really surprising. Apparently it's not in anybody's purview to do anything about it, which is really surprising," Fisher said.
Fisher was told the only way to get the fake plate off the road is if a police officer pulls the car over.
7 On Your Side tried to reach the dealer that bought the car, Naz Motors of Pleasant Hill. The owner did not return our numerous calls and messages.
State records show Naz Motors is suspended from doing business in California. And the DMV says it has revoked the dealer's license.
For now, Fisher wishes she could just get her old car back.
"It was a great car. I loved it. It was hard to see my beautiful old car being used in such a nefarious manner," Fisher said.
After a review of camera images, Oakland dismissed all the speeding tickets, and 7 On Your Side pointed out to FasTrak the plate didn't match the car, and it reversed the charges. But Fisher had to fight each ticket and toll. And there's no telling where that fake plate is now.
Read additional comments from the DMV below:
The DMV has canceled Naz Motors' license to operate as a car dealer, which means that we have no authority to act on the company for potentially placing a fake dealer plate on a vehicle in its possession. The DMV has no evidence that this dealer put the fake plate on it. The DMV also does not know if there have been any subsequent sales and whether a different party could have placed the fake dealer plate.
The DMV can't pull over moving vehicles. If one of our investigators sees the vehicle parked on a public street, we can issue a citation. But when the vehicle is being driven, any law enforcement agency with authority to stop vehicles that spots it can stop it and cite the driver. Law enforcement has the discretion to tow the vehicle with a fake dealer plate as this is a towable offense as a misdemeanor.
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