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It was part of a productive week for Port Authority police at three Hudson River crossings as a massive multi-agency crackdown that began earlier this month continues to gain momentum.
Noel Tirado Melendez not only had the fraudulent tags when he was stopped on the New Jersey side of the GWB on Thursday, March 28, authorities said.
"We also discovered that Melendez owes the agency over $8,000 in tolls and fees because of 198 known unpaid violations," PAPD Spokeswoman Lenis Valens said.
Melendez, who had various listed addresses in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, was arrested and charged with possession of fraudulent government documents, theft of services, and tampering with a government document, she said on Friday.
The day before, PAPD officers who stopped a vehicle for a suspended registration on the New York side of the Holland Tunnel found that the driver, Carl Stoute of Brooklyn, mowed more than $41,000 in tolls and fees because of 618 known unpaid violations, Valens said.
That was just a fraction, however, of a discovery by PAPD on the New Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel on Monday.
V&E Transport of Belleville, which owns a truck that they stopped that day, owed more than $460,000 in tolls and fees because of 4,048 known unpaid violations, Valens said.
Law enforcers on both sides of the Hudson River have been pairing new tech with deeper and more widespread training to attack toll evaders.
A massive campaign to identify and seize "ghost plate" vehicles began with 73 impounds, 282 summonses and eight arrests at the Lincoln Tunnel and George Washington and Triborough bridges in early March.
In just one weekend, Port Authority police seized plates and vehicles from 30 motorists at the Lincoln and the GWB while issuing 142 summonses, sources there told Daily Voice.
SEE: Massive Crackdown On License Plate Fraud Begins At GWB, Lincoln Tunnel
Last week, Port Authority police had a two-fer at the Lincoln Tunnel on the same day.
SEE: What Are The Chances? PAPD Nabs Back-To-Back Lincoln Tunnel Toll Evaders Who Owe $472G Combined
“Toll evaders are on notice," Valens said. "The question isn’t if we catch you, it's when. Scofflaws are unfair to law-abiding citizens by cheating the public out of funds that support the critical infrastructure that stitches our region together.”
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