We've always wondered what would happen if you just said "screw it," and drove through the toll booth without paying the fare, laughing heartily into the sunset as George Thorogood blares through your cheap stereo. As it turns out, nothing. Until you rack up $5,254 in unpaid charges. The Port Authority is charging Staten Island resident Alfred Buono with $25K in "administrative fees" after he skipped through open E-Z Pass lanes 998 times without paying. According to the Staten Island Advance, Buono has been getting a free ride since March of 2003.
A Port Authority spokesman said that the agency takes "the issue of toll evasion very seriously," and that they currently have "several hundred lawsuits pending against alleged toll scofflaws." When someone skips a toll, the PA "sends letters requesting payment and warning of a potential $25 service fee" for each toll. Presumably the 47-year-old Buono has used those notices to heat his home for quite some time now. If he doesn't respond to demands for the money, his case may be referred to a collection agency, and then an attorney to take legal action. At the rate the PA is going, he may be in Frisco by then, enjoying those views of the Bay Area, gratis.
