UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Drive around the Charlotte metroplex and you’ll likely see a fake temporary license tag. We told you about the problem last year after the exact same temporary tag was spotted on dozens of cars, but Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz found one local agency is cracking down on the problem.
“It’s an everyday occurrence,” says Deputy Michael Kenary of the Union County Sheriff’s Office.
Inside the garage of the Indian Trail Bureau, Kenary will be the first to show you the fruits of their labor. A trash can in the building is full of hundreds of fake and illegal temporary license plates.
“Oh, the ones that I always like are the ones people make themselves,” Kenary told Sáenz.
With 18 years as a Union County deputy, the former New York Police Department officer is an expert license plate reader, himself, at this point.
“They don’t use this format anymore,” he said while pointing at one tag.
“The material is wrong on the tag,” he said of another.
“This format is also wrong and not authorized,” the deputy said as he continued thumbing through the fakes.
He hones in like a hawk, spotting the tags on a daily basis.
“I can easily get two a day without trying to find them,” he told Sáenz.
Other drivers have spotted the same fake temporary plate seen on around 20 cars in the area. One photo even showed two drivers side by side with identical fake plates.
We found that exact tag in Kenary’s pile.
“There you go, yeah it’s a common one ... I know I’ve picked this up numerous times,” Kenary said. “There’s one in here that we picked up 90 times.”
The deputy took us along on the hunt for more. Scouring the streets, he zeroed in on the cars passing by before spotting one of his colleagues at a traffic stop. Sure enough, a fake temporary plate was on the back of the car they pulled over.
We’re told the 18-year-old driver in that traffic stop didn’t have a license, but the passenger who owned the car did. Both were cited. Lt. James Maye with UCSO said the driver told him he’ll pick up a new license plate every 45 days from a parking lot.
“He pays the printer of that fictitious plate $60 and he’s been doing it for an undisclosed amount of time at this point,” Maye told Sáenz.
Seconds later, Kenary walked up with a screwdriver and took off the fake plate to confiscate it. One more to add to the barrel.
Before long, a tow truck arrived and the pair in the car were forced to find another ride.
“It just goes to show that people are trying to take the easy way out,” Kenary said.
Who’s selling fake license plates?
A simple search online returned many results with fake temporary plates for sale. We contacted one seller who offered a 30-day plate for $30.
The seller told us they would “register our vehicle’s information to their system to generate the plate” and the tag would be sent to our email in PDF format so we could print it at any FedEx or UPS store.
“It makes it harder on everyone else, the regular people who pay their taxes. We pay, they do not,” Kenary said.
Deputies say they simply don’t have the resources to track down sellers, and they could be anywhere.
But when they find fake tags, they often find wanted suspects behind the wheel, or uninsured cars and stolen vehicles.
Over the past two years, the UCSO has confiscated more than 1,200 fake plates, and it’s a battle that continues every day.
“It’s not going to happen here, I mean we are absolutely vigilant on this,” Kenary said.
Stopping the fake tags
The deputy told us he’d like to see tougher penalties for driving with a fake temporary plate.
In North Carolina, it’s only a misdemeanor charge to drive with a fake temporary plate.
In South Carolina, it’s a felony and could carry prison time.
(VIDEO: Volunteers are fighting food insecurity among Union County seniors)
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