Apopka woman to make 3-hour trip to defend controversial SunPass ticket in Miami

APOPKA, Fla. — An Apopka woman appears to be the latest victim of the state's flawed SunPass system, which is designed to catch toll runners.

U.S. Army veteran Burnetta Mitchell could lose her license following an alleged $1 SunPass toll violation from Miramar in Broward County.

The violation photo from May shows what looks like a Chrysler SUV with the letters N-E-T-T on the plate, but the last letter is hard to read.  Burnetta said that wasn’t her vehicle in the photo.

An "order of suspension" that was later sent to Mitchell from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles warns that her license will be suspended Jan. 17 if she doesn't clear up a citation with the courts.

“When I opened it, I see my license is going to be suspended,” said Mitchell.  I've never driven in Miramar. I don't even know how to get there."

Mitchell said SunPass needs to verify who the real violator is before issuing the citation, but SunPass said had Mitchell notified them of the mistake when she got the citation in October, it may not have gotten to this point.

“How can they suspend my license over something that was not me, wasn't my car and was definitely not my tag?" said Mitchell.

SunPass officials said their optical scanners sometimes make mistakes and about 9,000 violations go to the wrong people each year, which could be the reason behind Mitchell’s case.

“For them to send this is me automatically without researching, it worries me,” said Mitchell.

Mitchell plans to take the day off work on Thursday and make the three-hour drive to Broward County to try to clear up the issue.

WFTV