Dozens of vehicles with bogus plates seized on Staten Island
Dozens of vehicles with bogus paper license plates were seized from Staten Island streets early Friday — part of a larger crackdown on the illegal tags across the city.
The operation, which began at midnight and ended at 8 a.m., netted 46 vehicles with the counterfeit tags across all four precincts in the borough: the 120, 121, 122 and 123, according to New York City Sheriff Joseph Fucito.
Sheriff deputies used license plate reader technology and physical patrols to identify the offending vehicles.
Deputies will investigate the true owners of the vehicles — and they will be held accountable for any outstanding judgments for unpaid speed, camera and parking violations summonses, according to Fucito.
The owners will also face the appropriate criminal and civil charges for their actions.
Deputies also issued 45 summonses for various parking and traffic offenses, Fucito said.
Including Friday morning’s sweep, the operation has led to the seizure of 411 vehicles with phony plates, and more than 400 traffic summonses have been issued, the sheriff said.
In addition, a total of 58 people have been charged with various crimes for displaying the illicit plates.
Previous operations have been held in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.
Illegal or counterfeit license plates allow vehicles to circumvent speed cameras in school zones, red light cameras, bus lane cameras and other public safety programs, according to Fucito.
The illicit plates are also used to evade tolls at the city’s bridge and tunnel crossings.
A number of them have been tied to shootings in the city.
