An 85-year-old Iowa woman says she has been getting letters from the New York City Department of Finance claiming that she owes $225 — for speeding while driving in the city.
While it sounds like a potential scam, it's not. She says she's the victim of a different crime.
Barbara Brown denies driving around the city with a lead foot. She says someone apparently stole the Iowa license plates she turned in to her county treasurer 10 years ago and put them on a car she does not own.
Within the past few weeks, those plates have apparently been photographed by speed cameras here in the city. But Brown's were not the only old Iowa plates seen speeding around NYC lately, however. An investigation by the NBC affiliate in Omaha found that there were two separate cases of it.
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When contacted, the Department of Finance said that Brown would be released from any judgments related to un-deserved traffic tickets — but only if she can prove that she did in fact turn in her plates years ago.
Brown is now working with local officials in her county to prove it wasn't her behind the wheel. She also wants the NYPD to track down the driver that is using her old plates and having the fines undeservedly sent to her.
