Doug Burnetti on SunPass Toll Billing Issues

It started in March.

I go to the mailbox and there’s a sumpass bill.

With a bill for multiple tolls along Florida’s Gulf Coast. The license plate number matched a temp tag registered to Vera Keswick Payne’s husband.

Handed it to my husband and he walked out and said, this isn’t me.

But the real giveaway that it wasn’t Vera’s husband.

This isn’t my car. It’s a black Mercedes.

The Payne’s who live in Palm Beach Gardens have a white Nissan, which has had a permanent tag for months.

I’m not thinking this is anyone nefarious. I’m thinking they’re probably just as much a victim as I am.

So Vera filed a report with the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department. That’s when she realized.

This is kinda scary.

The bill was under ten dollars but as Vera learned, the problem goes beyond the payment.

The guy runs a red light. It the tag is in my husband’s name. The guy hits and runs.

Tag is under my husband’s name.

Palm Beach Gardens police told me in an email that they consider this case an isolated incident, but personal injury attorney Doug Bernetti tells me It’s happening a lot.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement does not have statewide data on stolen temp tags that’s immediately available, And Burnetti says this type of incident is tough to track, which is kind of the point.

They’re kinda off the grid pretty much intentionally to do criminal activity and avoid being caught. Another big one is getting the ability to drive without insurance.

Not to mention the tolls on someone else’s dime. Vera tells me she followed police advice. She didn’t pay and instead filed a dispute with SunPass.

I still got a second invoice.

Eventually, SunPass closed the dispute.

I tried calling SunPass again to say, what does this mean? Are we are we good? I can’t get through to anybody.

I reached out to the Florida Department of Transportation nearly a month ago. The agency acknowledged my questions but never answered them despite my multiple attempts to follow-up.

It’s an exercise in futility.

And since I sat down with Vera in April, she got a third SunPass bill.

It’s one of those things where it’s just it’s it’s a nightmare to follow the the the breadcrumbs of the crime.

Security consultant and retired police officer Jean Petrino tells me the best thing you can do to protect yourself from temp tag theft is to keep thorough records of your police reports and toll disputes.

And when you are transitioning to a permanent license plate You can destroy the tag yourself.

You can cut it up into pieces. If you feel the need to to surrender it to the tag agency, I would eliminate your information on there.

A new law kicked in last year in the state of Florida. It increases penalties for fraudulent temp tag use, and it makes temp tags easier for the state to track them. I’m chief investigator Jamie Ostroff, WPTV news.