PATTIE Malone is no stranger to receiving other people’s mail.
Several times a week, the homeowner can be seen stopping at her neighborhood mailbox and pulling out a long stack of envelopes.
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Although the address stamped on parking tickets, traffic tickets, and toll invoices are printed with her address, none of them are addressed to her.
“I was literally getting new names every day,” Malone told the CBS affiliate WKMG.
“I’ve been getting about 30 pieces of mail from someone else for my one piece of mail.”
According to Malone, she has received more than 600 letters addressed to at least 70 different people since her collection began.
“It started very slowly. I was getting some pieces with maybe five or six different names,” Malone said.
“Then it started to accelerate in the fall.”
The woman said that, at first, she handwrote “Return to sender” on each piece of mail and then dropped it in the mailbox.
Now it has a stamp that says “Return to sender – never lived here – I’ll keep returning it and wasting your money.”
Malone revealed that a quarter of the mail she received at the Florida address are “Pay-By-Plate” toll billing invoices sent by the Florida Department of Transportation and the Central Florida Expressway Authority.
The confused woman also says she has received notices from several other states, including Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas.
Orlando traffic light violations, Los Angeles parking tickets, and New York City speed enforcement tickets reached Malone’s home.
Malone said she refrained from opening mail not addressed to her due to legal concerns.
“There’s something illegal going on,” Malone shouted.
“Why am I getting all this mail?”
How to Fight a Parking Ticket
You can avoid being fined by following all published laws and regulations, but sometimes mistakes are made
Like any form of citation, parking tickets can be avoided by reading and obeying posted signage. However, when visiting a new city, or state, or in a hurry, things can be missed and mistakes can be made.
Suddenly there’s a ticket you weren’t prepared to pay for. If the ticket comes as a surprise to you, there are some things you can do to help your case when appealing a parking ticket.
- Read the ticket carefully. Look for errors such as incorrect street names, license plate numbers, vehicle make and model, time and date, etc. Errors would render the ticket invalid.
- Take pictures. The vehicle in the space, lack of signage, or other vehicles that were not cited for performing the same parking service. If the ticket involves parking too close to something like a fire hydrant, a photo showing a reasonable distance would help your case. Make sure metadata with time and date is accessible. Signs that are obstructed by trees, or on crooked posts, or that are not “obvious” are also great things to photograph.
- Make sure the statute that was violated is listed on the ticket. If it is not listed, the ticket is not valid.
- Immediately follow the appeal instructions on the ticket. All legitimate tickets will have appeal instructions. Waiting until the last moment weakens your argument and can result in late fees.
- When in court, avoid these phrases as they reduce your credibility and weaken your argument:
- “I didn’t know the law.”
- “I was going to take my car.”
- “I can’t pay this ticket.”
- “I’ve been doing this for years.”
- “I checked with the parking officer, who said everything was fine.”
- Contact a lawyer. If you are facing obstacles and feel stuck, you may want to contact a traffic lawyer in your area. Many have free case consultations.
Source: Reader Summary
In addition to all the citations, Malone says he has received letters from towing companies, impound lots, car insurance companies, and also safety recalls for vehicles he doesn’t own.
After several failed attempts to get the U.S. Postal Service to stop delivering the unwanted letters, Malone asked WKMG to investigate.
Upon investigation, WKMG discovered that the numerous license plates were fraudulently linked to Malone’s address.
Several of the names that allegedly appeared in the letters are the names of alleged criminals from Romania who have been charged in Florida and other states.
“This is an active criminal investigation,” the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles told the outlet.
Since the investigation began, Malone has worked with police to identify the recipients.
“At first, I was worried that something had happened to my children,” Malone said when detectives first showed up at his door.
“We looked at five or six pieces and there he was,” Malone said after revealing that detectives were helping Illinois police track down one of the names.
“(The detective) said, ‘That’s him. It’s that.'”
“Our agency received a report of a ‘quick move’ scam at our Walmart,” said Johnsburg Illinois Police Chief Jason Greenwald.
“Our investigator was able to locate a suspicious vehicle registered to [Malone’s address] in Apopka, Florida.
“The suspect remains at large and the investigation is still active,” Greenwald said.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
