Local

Melbourne Beach woman allegedly charged bogus toll violations

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A Melbourne Beach woman turned to Channel 9 after years of frustration about what she calls bogus toll violations.

She said the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority has been mailing her toll invoices for cars that weren't even hers.

Mary Mashke, 67, said she is fed up.

"They just don't care," Mashke said.

Mashke said toll notices from the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority have been adding up every couple of months for a long time.

The notices show an SUV with what appears to be license plate 988-KBZ going through tolls in Miami.

The problem is she lives in Melbourne Beach, 186 miles away, and that's not her plate number, at least not anymore, she said.

The number was on her motor home, not an SUV.

She got rid of the plate two years ago because of her frustration with the toll-by-plate invoices.

"I thought I would get it out of my name because I turned in that plate. No, no, no, no, I just got this this month," Mashke said.

Mashke said even if she still had the old plate, she couldn't possibly have blown through a toll in Miami. Her motor home has been in storage for nearly three years.

Mashke said she's made calls, mailed certified letters, contacted the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and even contacted the Attorney General's Office.

"I've done everything I can do, other than what I'm doing right now," Mashke said.

The Expressway Authority said it found its software was misreading one letter on the plate. It promised to flag that plate number for special review anytime there's a toll violation.

The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said the plate number has not been reissued. It will be attached to her records for 10 years before it is purged from the system.