New York Grandma Gets Chicago Parking Tickets Without Owning a Car

At the intersection of 79th and Halsted streets in Auburn Gresham, automated enforcement cameras in Chicago caught a dark-colored Nissan Sentra with the New York Plate NCC1701 speeding along Kedzie Avenue past Marquette Park. Additionally, the vehicle ran a red light at the intersection of 79th and Halsted streets.

When the plates were returned, they were found by a woman who resides on Long Island, New York. The only issue is that the woman does not drive anymore and has not owned a vehicle that is registered to that license plate between the years 2020 and the present.

Having a tie to Trekkies

The spouse of Beda Koorey, who was 76 years old, was a huge fan of “Star Trek.” Given that he was a Trekkie, it was only natural that his license plate would reflect his enthusiasm.

“He got those plates in, if I can remember, It was like in 1978,” Koorey explained to me.

During the time that Captain Kirk was in command of the original USS Enterprise, the ship was assigned the license plate number NCC-1701.

In the end, Mr. Koorey purchased a new vehicle and new license plates, and the number NCC1701 was affixed to the vehicles that she drove.

However, the widowed Koorey, whose vision is deteriorating at the moment, has not been able to get behind the wheel of a vehicle for the past five years. The New York NCC1701 plates were returned to the state after she sold her last vehicle and returned them to the state.

The paperwork that she possesses provide evidence that those license plates were turned over to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles in April of 2020 and subsequently rendered useless.

That relationship to the ticket

Almost immediately after laying the Trekkie plate down, Koorey was not able to get any relaxation on his back. The mailbox she was using began to be flooded with hundreds of tickets.

In reference to this matter, Koorey stated, “I’ve been through a horror show.”

Over the course of the time that those license plates were destroyed, she has been sent hundreds of tickets through the mail.

“I had red light pictures and speeding and parking and towing in Virginia Beach; Florida; Maryland; Baltimore; Washington, D.C. —  all over the country.”

In point of fact, breaches of red-light cameras have been reported from more than twenty consecutive states. Moreover, it is not limited to tickets.

“In Ohio, the police officer called me looking for me, my cars,” Koorey explained to reporters. “I had to explain… because the car was involved in a robbery.”

According to Koorey, the officer in Ohio ceased investigating into her after they had a conversation due to the realization that it was an error. Other states required a greater amount of effort.

“In Florida, they wouldn’t even accept the documentation from the Department of Motor Vehicles in New York, including the certified letter,” Koorey explained to reporters. “So that’s why I had to eventually write to the Attorney General.”

In Chicago, Koorey was likewise not making any progress, despite the fact that she had sent the New York documentation proving that she had sold her car and that the license plates had been destroyed in the year 2020.

She received three tickets for $100 that were issued in October 2024, and by March 2025, the tickets had been converted into a collection notice for $600.

Kenneth Mollins, who is Koorey’s attorney, immediately started to work.

“I personally took the license plate to the New York Department of Motor Vehicles, and there it was. It was revealed that she was the previous owner of the plate, as stated by Mollins. “So at that point, I said I can’t let this go on.”

Following the broadcast of her story on various New York television stations, such as WCBS-TV New York, Mollins offered his services as a volunteer employee.

“I wrote to the DMV and told them that we were going to consider bringing litigation,” according to his statement. Received a response from their general counsel, who, according to what I’ve been told, doesn’t really call anyone. Even though it took him a day or two to finish, he was successful.

In the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) system, Mollins was successful in separating Koorey’s name from the NCC1701 New York plate.

In the end, a significant number of the tickets were also thrown out. However, Mollins stated that they encountered a barricade.

“But not in the great state of Illinois,” he added with conviction. “In Chicago… I could get nobody who gave a darnn.”

The same paperwork was forwarded to the Chicago Department of Finance and within a few days, Koorey’s tickets were no longer available.

What is the reason for all of the erroneous tickets?

Beda Koorey received a large number of incorrect tickets from all around the country, including Chicago, due to two different circumstances.

First, the New York NCC1701 is sent back to Koorey whenever a ticketing authority, such as the Department of Finance in Chicago or a state toll road, takes a picture of the license plate that is displayed on the vehicle that is in violation of the law and then runs the plate.

On the other hand, Koorey never possessed a Nissan Sentra that was similar to the one that was depicted in the photographs of the Chicago ticket.

In New York, as well as in other parts of the country, numerous automobiles possessing the same New York license plate were captured on camera violating various traffic regulations.

“This has stressed me out for five years to the point where I’ve ignored medication, I’ve ignored doctor appointments,” Koorey explained to reporters. “I’ve ignored so many things that I had to be focused on, but I couldn’t be focused on it because I couldn’t sleep.”

Despite the fact that Koorey’s ticket issue may have been resolved, there is still a problem that might make it possible for this to occur to anybody, anywhere.

Simply go to the Web. Several dealers, for instance, provide license plates that can be personalized and purchased for any state through the online marketplace Amazon.

According to Paul Steier, director of vehicle programs for the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), license plate readers are able to read the characters on a plate as well as the name of the state, but they are unable to do the most critical thing.

“Those readers aren’t necessarily detecting the authenticity of the plate,” he explained to reporters.

Moreover, this has an even more significant consequence than the fact that individuals like Koorey were issued erroneous fines.

Since this is the case, your tolling industry… According to Steier, “they will tell you the millions and millions of dollars that they lose every year because they are unable to locate the correct and rightful owner of that vehicle that [got] those tolls.”

What exactly is the answer?

Purchasing a replica of an actual plate is a simple process. It is more difficult to measure the magnitude of a problem such as Koorey’s in any given state or across the entire country.

However, Steier has a recommendation for how to reduce the severity of the problem, regardless of how numerous it may be.

“We’ve encouraged our members, our state members or Canadian members to get to work with our legislators to prohibit the allowance of a plate to be sold that replicates, that mirrors or counterfeits an exact plate that they issue,” stated the representative.

According to statements made by the attorneys general of New York and Illinois, they are “monitoring” the situation.

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