Woman says her car was ticketed in New London while parked in Ohio
Aug. 31—NEW LONDON — Can a car be in two places at the same time?
It can, according to a New London Parking Authority violation ticket received recently by a Fairlawn, Ohio, resident.
Earlier this month, Lisa Viering got an overdue parking ticket notice alerting her she owed the City of New London $250 for illegally parking in a handicap space inside the Water Street garage on July 13.
The problem?
Viering says her 2007 Ford Mustang GT was nearly 600 miles away in the Buckeye State at the time it was supposedly documented as being parked in the New London garage.
"I've never even been to Connecticut and the furthest east I've ever been is New York state," said the 62-year-old former part-time police dispatcher. "The first thing I thought when I got the ticket was 'Is this a scam?'"
And the deeper Viering dug into the issue, the more anomalies she found.
The photos she pulled up via the authority's payment site did indeed show the back of a silver Ford GT bearing her vehicle's license plate. But the Ohio plate shown bears a different color scheme and located below a trunk area with a black illumination bar — not the red horizontal strip embedded in her car.
The ticketed car, which shows signs of a slap-dash paint job, also boasted a spoiler and bumper scratch, unlike Viering's vehicle.
Tracking data Viering said she pulled from her car's anti-theft device showed that from 11:48 a.m. to 12:04 p.m. on July 13, 2023 — just a few minutes before the city ticket was issued — her Mustang was on Valley View in Ohio, a nearly nine-and-a-half-hour drive from New London.
Viering said she checked to make sure her son, the main operator of the car, hadn't made a trip to New London in July and also reached out to her state's Bureau of Motor Vehicles in case the plate had been re-issued to another driver.
"Nope," she said. "So, my gut tells me either someone made a fake plate or something was going on with the parking authority. Either way, it's something I'd think the residents in New London would want to be aware of."
The city contracts with LAZ Parking Limited Company to run the Water Street garage. The company's "parking ambassadors" issue violation tickets, as do city police officers, said Carey Redd II, the city's director of transportation and parking.
"I'm perplexed as well," Redd said Tuesday. "This just landed on my desk and we hope to have all the particulars on the case in the next 48 to 72 hours."
Redd said LAZ employees don't work on commission, which appears to rule out any internal malfeasance. He said the ticket Viering received is a legitimate document, which means payments are made to the city via check or through an online transaction and not to a scammer's account.
"It sounds like a bogus plate to me," Redd said. "At one point in time, we were seeing rampant activity like that with fake plates and fake driver's licenses ― bad guys working on getting around the process."
Redd said it's his department's policy to alert law enforcement and the state Department of Motor Vehicles whenever a fake plate incident arises.
"That allows police to nip it in the bud before something horrific happens," he said. "We also have a fiduciary responsibility to protect motorists' civil rights."
Redd said after Viering fills out a formal appeals document, the ticket case will go before a hearing officer not employed by the parking authority.
"In sensitive situations, a hold can be out on a ticket, and we can make a recommendation to dismiss," he said. "And our system errs on the side of the motorist. This is the first case like this I've seen in my six years here at the authority, so that's a blessing."
Viering said New London police Detective Richard Curcuro is handling her case.
"This is pretty serious to me," she said. "I don't want to get a knock at my door from a police officer telling me my car has been used in a crime in New York City or some other place. Or a call saying there's been an accident involving my car and someone was hurt."
