STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Janine Mul\u00e9, an Annadale resident, looks after her 91-year-old father, Nicholas Mattia.<\/p>\n
One day in October 2024, she was sorting through her dad\u2019s mail when she came upon a ticket. While many on Staten Island have been caught by speed cameras going just a little too fast, something didn\u2019t add up.<\/p>\n
Mattia, a Rossville resident, rarely drives his car, using it predominantly to take a trip to Walgreens or church. And strangely, she noticed, although the license plates on the ticket matched up, the vehicle make did not.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of tickets<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first got the first ticket I went to Motor Vehicle because I just assumed it was Motor Vehicle\u2019s screw up, because there were two of the same plates out there, so that\u2019s what I thought,\u201d Mul\u00e9 said. \u201cI went and they verified that only his (Hyundai) Sonata was attached to that plate and they were kind of baffled as to what to do next.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mul\u00e9 continued to carry on with her life, but soon enough, more and more tickets began to come in the mail.<\/p>\n
In response, Mul\u00e9 would write on the tickets that they were not associated to her father\u2019s vehicle and send them back.<\/p>\n
![\"License](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/JQARJCCSXNBN5NELV6LSJX6MDM.jpg\")
From the left, Chief of RCDA’s Detective Investigators Squad Investigator David Nilsen, DA’s office Press Secretary James Clinton, Borough President Vito Fossella, Janine Mul\u00e9, Deputy Chief Mike Dimino and Senior Investigator David Casey announce justice for a Staten Island family victimized by license plate fraud on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. Janine Mul\u00e9 stood up for her 91-year-old father who was the victim.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel)<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t pay, because I knew I would never get that money back and I knew it wasn\u2019t us,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Mul\u00e9 was referred to the police in January. <\/p>\n
Within weeks she says authorities found the vehicle responsible for racking up fees under Mattia\u2019s name. As it turns out, the suspect in this case had allegedly used blue tape to turn an F on their plate into an E.<\/p>\n
Mul\u00e9 told the Advance\/SILive.com that police removed the tape and \u201cit was quiet for a little bit\u201d before the suspect returned to the same ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just assumed that at some point these letters were going to catch up and they were going to know that it wasn\u2019t my dad, but it didn\u2019t really matter because my father\u2019s car got booted even with his new plate,\u201d Mul\u00e9 noted. \u201cBecause the old plate \u2014 even though it was surrendered \u2014 they\u2019re connected still, to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
In search of some assistance, Mul\u00e9 contacted Borough President Vito Fossella\u2019s office via social media sometime in late July\/early August. Within hours she received a response and since then, detectives have been on the case.<\/p>\n
![\"License](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/T5Q7YUVOV5F57AXWQFHMXGKGWI.jpg\")
Borough President Vito Fossella and District Attorney McMahon’s office announce justice for a Staten Island family victimized by license plate fraud on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. Janine Mul\u00e9 stood up for her 91-year-old father who was the victim.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel)<\/p>\n
In all, Mul\u00e9 believes she has received \u201chundreds\u201d of tickets in the mail tallying up to thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n
Fortunately for Mul\u00e9, officials have been able to identify the suspect in this case and she will not be held responsible for paying these unwarranted tickets and fees.<\/p>\n
Officials are on the case<\/p>\n
It was announced during a press conference at Borough Hall in St. George on Friday that investigators know who is responsible for racking up these fees and, in turn, victimizing this Staten Island family.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank God my dad has me, because if there\u2019s another senior citizen out there who doesn\u2019t have anybody, who would help him?\u201d Mul\u00e9 told reporters.<\/p>\n
Fossella highlighted the efforts of investigators and the office of District Attorney Michael E. McMahon in assisting Mul\u00e9. In particular, Fossella thanked Chief of the Richmond County District Attorney\u2019s Office\u2019s Detective Investigators Squad David Nilsen, Deputy Chief Mike Dimino and Senior Investigator David Casey.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a victimless crime,\u201d Fossella said. \u201cJust think of all the stress and the pressure this family was put through because of some dirtbag…there will be justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"License](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/C5TQUWZVJ5ETXBVGJSTHGPLYSM.jpg\")
James Clinton, press secretary for the Richmond County District Attorney’s office, at the podium as Borough President Vito Fossella announces justice for a Staten Island family victimized by license plate fraud on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. Janine Mul\u00e9 stood up for her 91-year-old father who was the victim.(Advance\/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel)<\/p>\n
James Clinton, press secretary for the Richmond County District Attorney\u2019s Office, explained that there is an open and active investigation into this matter and a suspect has been identified. However, as it is an active investigation, the office could not provide further information on the individual.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore I close, I want to be very clear that ghost plates, altered plates, toll violators, they will be held accountable on Staten Island,\u201d he added. \u201cAs the borough president said, this is not a victimless crime; it will not be tolerated in our borough. And frankly, it\u2019s an insult to the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding, toll-paying Staten Islanders. And those who fly flagrantly in the face of our laws are going to be held accountable and our office will not relent in our pursuit of justice for those victims and the people of Staten Island.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clinton highlighted the advocacy of Fossella and McMahon for pushing to implement license plate readers<\/a>, which played a major role in assisting investigators.<\/p>\n Nilsen urged residents who may be receiving summonses not associated to their vehicle to report it at their local police precinct.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a police report was made for Janine\u2019s dad on the stolen plate, it triggers the NYPD to put in an alarm on that plate,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd because the alarm was put on the plate, we were able to identify who the person was who altered their plate.\u201d<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Janine Mul\u00e9, an Annadale resident, looks after her 91-year-old father, Nicholas Mattia. One day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-39943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}