Community | March 07, 2011 | 43 comments

Motorists illegally detained at Florida tolls - for using large bills!

source: http://www.wtsp.com/news/mostpop/story.aspx?storyid=178322

bundlebear
Tampa, Florida -- Meet Joel Chandler, who just paid his $1.00 toll on the Polk Parkway with a $100 bill, he is not allowed to leave unless he provides personal info to the toll taker. The toll taker tells Chandler this is what happens when they get large bills. She says this is what they have to do.

Chandler says to the toll taker, "So I'm being detained?" She says yes sir.

It is a policy the Florida Turnpike authority instituted for people who paid with $20, $50 or $100 bills. After it happened once, Chandler kept testing the system and taped his encounters as he went through the toll booths.

One time a toll taker told him, she wouldn't give him his change unless he gave her the information. Chandler replied, "So I'm being detained." He asked why he was being detained but never got an answer.

Chandler says this is a serious criminal offense, to detain someone without proper legal authority. He says that is exactly what the department is doing.

When Chandler called and e-mailed the Florida Department of Transportation to complain about the policy, he was told there is no policy to detain people who give large bills. He says that made him more concerned, because that meant there were individual rogue toll takers detaining people.

The practice continued at toll booth after toll booth and, if someone refused to provide the information, they were threatened with arrest. One toll taker told Chandler's brother Robert, "I could call FHP. Would you like me to do that, sir?" Robert Chandler asked why she would call the Florida Highway Patrol when he was being illegally detained and the toll taker said he could come up with another form of tender.

Chandler continued to complain and on July 21st at 7:19 p.m., he received an email from the assistant General Counsel of FDOT saying essentially the department didn't know what he was talking about and they don't have sufficient information to investigate. However, earlier that same day, there were a flurry of e-mails going back and forth in the department saying shut the program down, temporarily suspend it and who should call Chandler and what should they say.

According to Chandler, not only was the D.O.T. not being truthful about the policy existing, but he also says they made a concerted effort to cover it up.

One reason the department might not have wanted the public to know about the program is because of whom was being detained.

Chandler says he thinks it clear from their own documents there was a lot of racial profiling going on.

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And when you look at the documents from the Florida Department of Transportation you see there was a policy change about detaining people who gave a 20 dollar bill. The Department decided to leave it up to the discretion of the toll takers to decide who was suspicious.

The courts have ruled that is unconstitutional, because it allows the preferences and prejudices of an individual to make the decision.

Chandler says 87 percent of the times toll takers took the time to fill out the form as to why they stopped someone. It was a racial description like, young black male, young black male, young Hispanic male.

Although FDOT refused to comment because the Department expects to be sued, internal e-mail justify the program because of counterfeit bills. However, in a 2 and a half year period the DOT got $16,000 in counterfeit bills, while at the same time it collected close to $2 billion in tolls ($1,523,825,404).

The Department also spent $32,000 on forms used to catch the $16,000 in funny money. The department also says in e-mails, the program will help law enforcement catch counterfeiters.

However, as Chandler discovered, in the 885 times the D.O.T. claims it received counterfeit money, not one time was it referred to any law enforcement agency of any description.

Meantime, Chandler estimates the illegal detainment has happened at least 5 million times. He says it has been crime upon crime upon crime, lie upon lie upon lie. He says it's disturbing because the Department got its hands caught in the cookie jar.

That's why Chandler wants a to file a class action suit against the state. He says what it comes down to is the Department of Transportation will be found by the courts to be involved in the largest criminal conspiracy in the state.

And if the court were to award everyone who was detained even a small amount to compensate them, it could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

http://www.wtsp.com/news/mostpop/story.aspx?storyid=178322
  1. groups:
    Community,   Politics,   US Politics,   US News,   5 more
  2. tags:
    Florida,  Illegal,  Detained,  Motorist
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43 comments // Motorists illegally detained at Florida tolls - for using large bills!

  • Persecuted
  • Leen61
  • Leen61
    • +1
      Leen61  

    • This is just another case of racial profiling. They will spend money on this but then slash budgets for programs that could really help people. Is this starting to sound familier?

    • 1 year ago
  • Warren_Merrill
  • Leen61
  • Warren_Merrill
    • 0
      Warren_Merrill  
    • Leen61:

      It is profiling. I had not watched this video. I figured it was the same as the one I saw on the news. The news video I saw stopped at hassling people for into. It did not include the person's follow up investigation.

    • 1 year ago
  • Persecuted
  • jubal
    • +1
      jubal  

    • Go for it. Florida is a hateful state with lots of racial profiling and money traps. I can't imagine spending any of my precious vacation dollars there in Florida.

      Sorry to all you nice floridians who live there.

    • 1 year ago
  • figgdimension
    • 0
      figgdimension  

    • to be truthful I read this title as "Motorist's illegally detained by Florida TROLLS!"
      I must have been seeing things or this could be a lame attempt to stick the word "TROLLS" in wHerever possible(uh,oh i gonna get flageed) in my little protest against the censorship of the word...

    • 1 year ago
  • evilchopsuey
  • artemis6
  • UrbanGypsy
    • 0
      UrbanGypsy  

    • Here in Miami we don't have anymore of those tolls. All the tolls are electronic Sun-Pass or if you don't have one you get a bill in the mail after they take a picture of your license plate.

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • figgdimension
    • -1
      figgdimension  
    • bailey78:

      when I live din Ft. Myer's I paid a toll over to the Cape and Sanibel in fact they are everywhere down there how many times I forgot and was scambling together change at the booth heart thumping ...geez so annoying ... anything to make a couple bucks

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • jubal
    • -2
      jubal  
    • bailey78:

      Fuck taxes...I thought that was what the tea party was supposed to be doing, making them go away. The only entities that should be paying taxes are those engaged in profit making, all wage earners should not be taxed.

    • 1 year ago
  • aaron1972
  • hunzedog
  • jesus_is_a_liberal
  • hunzedog
  • Tim_Patrick
    • +3
      Tim_Patrick  
    • hunzedog:

      I pay tolls in MD all the time. I try to use smaller bills to save time, but I have no issue giving a larger bill. They just use a counterfeit pen, give me my change and off I go.

      The politicians in Maryland would never dream of pulling this BS on any of their citizens. In fact, MD is the best place I have ever lived. I've lived in 9 different states, to include California, Texas, South Carolina, Illinois, and Virginia; and none of them take care of the people like Maryland does.

      Believe it or not, at least one state has it right. I hear New Hampshire does well too.

    • 1 year ago
  • Seauvan
  • Warren_Merrill
  • Warren_Merrill
    • -2
      Warren_Merrill  
    • Tim_Patrick:

      "I hear New Hampshire does well too."

      New Hampshire has it real well. No state income tax. No sales tax. A heavily Republican dominated House. A heavily dominated Republican Senate. A governor (even though he's a Democrat) who is doing his damnedest to cut back the benefits and the power of the state employees union. A governor who is demanding a balanced budget.

      Regardless of political party New Hampshire has always been a very independent state. Both parties are typically moderate. It's typically a fiscally conservative, socially moderate state.

    • 1 year ago
  • Warren_Merrill
  • dalistuff
  • PoliticalAmazon
    • +1
      PoliticalAmazon  
    • Warren_Merrill:

      Yeah, Texas is right behind us. They've just been covering it up for the last year.

      I guess that's the GOP's motto: "We'll rob ya' blind, but you won't know about it until we're 20 miles down the road!"

      And all this time Gov. Perry trying to lord it over California because Texas "didn't have any debt." What an obnoxious, and lying, little prick he is.

    • 1 year ago
  • PoliticalAmazon
    • 0
      PoliticalAmazon  
    • Warren_Merrill:

      Poor Gov. Perry. The people now know when they voted for him, they were voting to hit the iceberg---going by your logic.

      I hope the people of Texas remember that when the next two-bit schill of a Republican comes wandering down the campaign trail....

    • 1 year ago
  • Warren_Merrill
    • -2
      Warren_Merrill  
    • dalistuff:

      I don't believe there's a Republican outside California who sees Ah-nold as a Republican. I'm not sure what made him think he could run a state. But, I felt anyone who took over or takes over now is taking the helm of a disaster waiting to get worse.

    • 1 year ago
  • 2warsoffbooks
  • 2warsoffbooks
  • DougChristian
    • 0
      DougChristian  
    • Tim_Patrick:

      Except in MD the tolls are $5 each. So big bills aren't really that big!

      New Hampshire (where I'm at these days) is over-rated. Most of it is back woods. There's no public transport, terrible roads and almost no safety net. By "live free or die" they just mean if you can't live without help, you'll die. They don't mean free in the liberal sense at all. We have the most rabid police around and really harsh drug laws. They depend on highway robbery to fund the budget with extreme registration, inspection and traffic laws. Property taxes are through the roof. We do have good schools and good unemployment rates, but the whole scam is based on feasting on the Massachusetts economy by setting up tax-free malls and STATE RUN liquor stores all along the border and stealing from the Mainiacs and Massholes who ride through on our 10 miles of road. (Seriously, don't speed through NH.) And yet we still have a huge $140M budget deficit.

      But Mr Merrill there is right about one thing: That budget will be balanced entirely on the backs of the few state employees.

    • 1 year ago
  • DougChristian
  • Warren_Merrill
    • 0
      Warren_Merrill  
    • DougChristian:

      No income and sales taxes and lower unemployment than much of the country. Wow! It works. I would rather pay higher property tax than an income tax and have the money go to my community. And there are good schools you say. Wow is NH ever a messed up state! They're doing reasonably OK in a bad economy.

    • 1 year ago
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
  • dalistuff
  • danitassin
  • danitassin
  • jesus_is_a_liberal
    • +7
      jesus_is_a_liberal  
    • danitassin:

      I am sorry to say this, however, you have one right in America, to go to fucking jail, if they see fit, and fight your way out. Your only right is to have enough money not to get screwed over. It seems apparent when someone make a statement such as, "I know my rights", that they in fact have had no real interaction with the US UN-justice system!

    • 1 year ago
  • totally_dilapidated
    • +2
      totally_dilapidated  
    • jesus_is_a_liberal:

      you got that right
      you have got to be able to afford your rights
      you have got to be able to afford to live in america the beautiful

      one step down from afford
      and it all turns to rat pooh
      you lose your rights
      and it isn't beautiful anymore...

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • dalistuff
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
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