NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WIVB) – The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles is auditing county-run DMV offices across the state as investigators try to determine how surrendered license plates — or their plate numbers — are ending up back on the road, triggering tolls and tickets for drivers who believed their plates had been destroyed.
The audits follow News 4’s months of reporting on cases where New Yorkers who turned in their plates later received erroneous toll bills, parking tickets, and even speeding violations tied to plates they no longer owned. In some cases, the surprise bills arrived years after the plates were surrendered.
Niagara County’s DMV offices in Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda, and Lockport are among the locations recently visited by the DMV’s Division of Field Investigation. Auditors examined how surrendered plates are collected, secured, stored, and ultimately destroyed.
“They go in a locked drop box and then, at the end of the day, the staff collects them all and they go in our vault,” said Ashlee Pappas, deputy clerk of the Niagara County Auto Bureau. “We were in compliance with everything.”
Niagara County officials say surrendered plates are stored in a vault and taken weekly by courier to a scrap yard for destruction.
“There had been a lot of news and scuttlebutt in reference to what happened in Chautauqua County, I think they got sensitized to the issue and they came down,” Christman said, “They said we’re checking everybody’s destruction protocols.”
Christman said they were interested specifically in the handling of surrendered license plates and the chain of custody during the second meeting.
Christman, who has served more than 20 years as clerk, said he has never seen DMV investigators visit county offices to examine a single issue so narrowly. He believes the state is responding to a growing risk tied to rising toll costs and the shift to cashless tolling systems. “I think they’re seeing a possibility of a major problem,” he said.
Christman says there should be a line of communication between county clerks and the toll operators to resolve tolling complaints.
“If that plate’s been listed as surrendered that should put a red flag up for somebody to do one step more than just sending the bill and letting somebody else suffer the consequences,” Christman said.
The audits are not limited to Western New York. According to the New York State Association of County Clerks, similar audits have been conducted in Columbia County near Albany, as well as upstate in Lewis, Franklin, and Essex counties. All were found in compliance.
Chautauqua County, however, was found out of compliance after a security evaluation and has since implemented reforms.
Holly Tanner, the clerk in Columbia County said in an email: “I do think that they [DFI] are taking this pretty serious as in my 25 years this was never done, something like this about a specific process.”
Jamie Romeo, president of the state Association of County Clerks, said the decision to audit specific counties rests with the DMV’s investigative division. Fifty-one counties provide DMV services for the State of New York.
Why are they going to these counties to specifically look at their chain of custody of surrendered license plates?
“That would be a question for DFI,” she said.
Despite the heightened scrutiny, Romeo emphasized that drivers should still feel confident surrendering plates at county-run DMVs. Romeo adds that plate surrender reviews have happened in the past at DMV offices as part of routine checks.
In a new development, Chautauqua County Clerk Greg Carlson confirmed that the New York State Inspector General’s Office has interviewed six county DMV employees in connection with a license plate fraud complaint. The interviews took place several weeks ago. Carlson says his office is fully cooperating with the I.G.’s Office.
A spokesperson for the Inspector General declined to comment. But the I.G.’s Office provided this statement:
“The Offices of the New York State Inspector General is committed to thorough, comprehensive, and independent investigations into all complaints received that fall under our jurisdiction. But as is the standard policy of this agency, in the interest of maintaining the confidentiality of complainants, witnesses, and subjects of any allegations, we do not confirm the existence or status of investigations unless and until a finding of wrongdoing is made. All such findings are codified in writing, and since November of 2021 all such materials are released to the public and will continue to be going forward.”
Law enforcement sources say the I.G.’s Office is reviewing license plate fraud concerns in other counties as well.
For drivers like Denise Kaiser of Dunkirk, the fallout has been stressful. After surrendering her plates, she began receiving toll bills and letters threatening license suspension.
“It’s confusing, stressful,” Kaiser said. “When you start getting letters threatening that they’re going to take your license away because you’re not paying tolls you kind of need your license when you work.”
Both the DMV’s internal investigation and the Inspector General’s review remain active. News 4 will continue tracking developments in both investigations.
This spring, New York State Police plan to launch “Operation Plate Check,” to crackdown on fictitious or switched plates and plates covers that are obstructing tolls and plate readers. This detail will utilize multiple NYSP specialty details as well as standard patrol vehicles, according to
State Police.
