Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/09/929.asp

1/31/2006
Texas Toll Road Imposes $73,000 Fine on Driver
Administrative fees create $73,000 fine for Dallas, Texas driver who drove on toll road without paying.

Evangelina GonzalezThe North Texas Toll Authority imposed a record $75,963 in fines on Dallas resident Evangelina Gonzalez, 41, exceeding the $43,638 fine imposed by a California tolling authority on the family of a cancer patient that skipped $141 in tolls. Last Thursday Gonzalez pled no contest to three misdemeanors for driving her 2003 Toyota Corolla through toll booths without paying. She used the toll roads an average of three times a day between June 7, 2003 and November 15, 2005. She faces additional misdemeanor charges in Collin County.

The tolling authority's "administrative fees" added $73,000 to the $1800 in tolls she had actually failed to pay. Gonzalez settled with the tolling authority for $7596, more than four times what she owed. The authority will void the agreement and seek the full amount if she fails to pay the full settlement amount or is caught skipping another toll by October 31.

The authority has also assessed fines of $58,338 and $47,144 against two other individuals.

Source: Driver: No contest in tollbooth running (Dallas Morning News, 1/31/2006)

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