Washington, D.C. (WUSA) -- An outraged Montgomery County car theft victim is wondering why he is stuck with an 18-month old D.C. parking ticket written while thieves still had his car.
Now the District's Department of Motor Vehicles has sicced a collections agency on Steve Steinberg to recover $205 the city claims he owes after the September 24th, 2006 theft.
Steinberg has vowed never to pay, and asks why instead of writing a ticket, DC officials didn't notice the car was reported stolen when they recorded his license plate.
He also claims a DC auto theft detective told him the car may have been towed and released to a joyrider before it turned up abandoned in the District September 28th of 2006.
"During the time the car was stolen the District had their hands on the car twice and they failed to run the tags," Steinberg alleges.
DMV has no record of the vehicle being towed, and the detective says he does not remember the conversation.
DMV spokesperson Janis Hazel said situations like this arise when victims don't appeal tickets right away. "We're not about trying to stick it to our own motorists, but people have to respond," she said.
But Steinberg has copies of letters and faxes he sent to the DMV and police long before the account was sent to collections. "Please delete this ticket from your system as the vehicle was stolen and not in my possession or control at the time in question," wrote Steinberg on November 9th of 2006. The case was sent to collections a year later.
"It is absurd for this to have occurred the way that it has and for the District and its collections agency to continue to harass me," Steinberg said in an interview Monday.
Ward One City Council Member Jim Graham has promised to review the case and void the ticket if the facts warrant it.
Things are bad when your car is stolen. Things get worse when your car is ticketed, towed, and released to the car thief. Things become insane when a collection agency comes after YOU for the ticket money. Crazy, huh?
Geez!!!!