A Palm Beach Gardens resident discovered she was receiving toll bills for roads she never traveled after her husband's temporary license tag was stolen and used fraudulently. Vera Keswick-Paine first noticed the problem in March when a toll bill arrived for multiple charges along Florida's Gulf Coast. The bill displayed a license plate number matching a temporary tag registered to her husband, but it referenced a black Mercedes. The family drives a white Nissan that has carried a permanent tag for months.
Keswick-Paine reported the issue to Palm Beach Gardens Police and filed a dispute with SunPass, the state's toll collection system. However, the situation escalated beyond a simple billing error. "The guy runs a red light, the tag is in my husband's name. The guy hits and runs, tag is under my husband's name," she explained, highlighting the potential legal consequences of having someone else's crimes linked to her family's identity. Despite her efforts, a second invoice arrived, and SunPass closed the dispute without providing clear confirmation that the matter was resolved. A third toll bill came after she reached out to authorities in April.
The problem is more widespread than many realize, according to personal injury attorney Doug Burnetti. "It's happening a lot," he said. Temporary tags are attractive to criminals because they are difficult to track and allow people to drive without insurance or conduct other illegal activities without detection. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement does not maintain readily available statewide data on stolen temporary tags, which makes investigating these crimes challenging. Security consultant and retired police officer Gene Petrino described the difficulty: "It's one of those things where it's just a nightmare to follow the breadcrumbs of the crime."
Petrino recommended that people protect themselves by maintaining detailed records of police reports and toll disputes. He also advised drivers to destroy their temporary tags when transitioning to permanent plates by cutting them into pieces or removing personal information before surrendering them. Palm Beach Gardens Police characterized Keswick-Paine's case as isolated, though experts disagree about how common the problem actually is. Florida enacted a new law last year that increased penalties for fraudulent use of temporary tags and improved the state's ability to track them. Keswick-Paine's attempts to contact the Florida Department of Transportation went unanswered despite multiple follow-up inquiries over nearly a month.