Nine people have been arrested for faking parking permits at city public housing projects throughout the city, officials said Wednesday.
A limited number of parking permits are available to residents and non-residents at NYCHA facilities, ranging in cost from $60 to $272 annually for residents, and between $150 and $650 for non-residents.
The investigation began after a fake permit was discovered on a car at the James Weldon Johnson Houses in East Harlem last year. Investigators then began checking permits at nearly 100 public housing facilities citywide.
Investigators said the fake permits appeared to be computer-generated, with backgrounds that were slightly different-colored than genuine permits. The numbers were also invalid.
Five people were arrested in December, and another 9 arrests were announced Wednesday.
“These motorists may have thought they successfully bypassed the expense of parking in New York City," Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said in a statement. "But using bogus city parking permits to park illegally was instead a one-way street to criminal charges.”
Those arrested were charged with a misdemeanor charge of third-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument.
