A Dallas driver said he received speed camera notice violations from Philadelphia for a car he doesn\u2019t own. Read on about his efforts to get the tickets dismissed. <\/p>\n
\u2018YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE VIOLATIONS\u2019<\/p>\n
At home in Dallas, Ronald Clements shows us two speed camera violations mailed to him from Philadelphia. A place he said he hasn\u2019t visited in decades. <\/p>\n
\u201cLike over 40 years ago, the last time I was in Philly,\u201d Clements told NBC 5. <\/p>\n
Both violations included a license plate number that wasn\u2019t his and a photo of a dark Mercedes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI certainly don’t drive a Mercedes. These are my two vehicles here,\u201d Clements said, pointing to the cars in front of his home.<\/p>\n
Clements said he ordered a Texas Department of Motor Vehicles record. The record said the Texas plate number, shown in the speed camera violations, was cancelled in 2022. Clements said he contacted the Philadelphia Parking Authority and shared the Texas DMV record.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey told me, well, regardless of what Texas DMV is telling you, this is still coming up under your name, so you are responsible for these violations,\u201d Clements said.<\/p>\n
In an email to NBC 5 Responds, Texas DMV confirmed the plate number was never assigned to Clements and has not been active since 2022.<\/p>\n
Texas DMV said the plate number was previously assigned to Clements\u2019 white Buick, before Clements owned it. A new plate was issued to Clements when he bought the used Buick.<\/p>\n
In Philadelphia, our NBC 10 Responds colleagues contacted the PPA. It asked our team to share documentation showing Texas canceled the plate.<\/p>\n
Nine days later, Clements received notice that the PPA withdrew both violations. The letters cited an \u201cadministrative decision.\u201d <\/p>\n
The PPA told our Philadelphia colleagues that its search of Texas records tied the plate number to Clements. Texas DMV said its records show the plate number was canceled four years ago.<\/p>\n
SAME PLATE, DIFFERENT CARS<\/p>\n
We don’t know who was driving the car pictured in the speed cam tickets Clements received. We also don\u2019t know how the plate number ended up on the vehicle. An NBC 10 Philadelphia police source told our team the plate number in the citation has appeared on 10 different cars.<\/p>\n
When we reviewed the daytime violation photo, we couldn\u2019t see a star in the upper left corner of the license plate. General issue plates in Texas, like this example<\/a>, have a star. <\/p>\n We asked Sergeant Joe Escribano with the Travis County Constable\u2019s Office Precinct 3 about this. He investigates license plate fraud. He\u2019s not involved in Clements\u2019 question.<\/p>\n \u201cWe, in the past here, have seen there has been somewhat of an influx, and people still use those plates, and they’ll go ahead and get the false ones,\u201d said Escribano.<\/p>\n Escribano said this may be an example of license plate cloning, someone using an actual plate number to order a replica online.<\/p>\n \u201cThey just pick that number, or they found it, and they just put it in there,\u201d said Escribano.<\/p>\n