Port Authority Police put the brakes on a New Jersey trucker and a trucking company they say use “ghost trucks” with missing or altered license plates to get away with more than a half million dollars in unpaid tolls and fees, the agency said Friday.
Caballos Bencosmeramon was heading toward the Lincoln Tunnel Tuesday when Port Authority cops pulled him over for not having a front license plate.
A quick records search done at the scene showed that Bencosmeramon owed $258,000 in tolls and fees for ignoring 3,865 violations he collected over the last few years.
Cops also learned that Bencosmeramon was issued summonses for no front plate and a damaged rear plate at the Lincoln Tunnel in January, making it impossible for toll license plate readers to scan the numbers.
Bencosmeramon was let go with another summons, but the Port Authority Police plan to file civil charges against him in court to recoup the money he’s skimped on.
On the same day, Port Authority cops pulled over a truck owned by the D. Rubio Express company for having unclear front and rear license plates. Records reveal the company owes $214,000 in tolls and fees for 1,811 unpaid violations.
Cops summonsed the driver for having unclear front and rear plates and for not having an up-to-date diesel emissions test. As with Bencosmeramon, the Port Authority plans to file civil charges against the company.
The two stops come as state authorities have launched a sprawling interagency task force to combat so-called ghost cars and trucks carrying missing, modified or counterfeit license plates.
During the kick off of the initiative on March 11, cops netted 73 car seizures and 282 summonses that led to eight arrests, officials said.
License plate coverings and fake or fraudulent plates led to more than $46 million in lost toll revenue for the MTA in 2022, according to a fare evasion report published by the agency last year.
And in December, 44 cars — linked to nearly $1 million in unpaid tolls and fines — were impounded in a toll enforcement blitz on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, according to officials.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said it logged a 14% overall increase in revenue recovery from toll evaders in 2023 compared with the previous year.
But it isn’t just about unpaid tolls. Since the pandemic, altered, damaged or fake plates have been used by crooks as they commit high stakes crimes throughout the five boroughs, Mayor Adams said.
