Officials in New York and across the country have sounded the alarm about fraudulent and fake paper tags, which have been used in hit-and-runs, robberies and shootings. Some of these companies are run by New Yorkers but registered elsewhere, in states where loose regulations make it easier to obtain dealership licenses and print tags. Streetsblog found still more dealerships that, like ECL, issue large numbers of tags with little or no other discernible business activity. A Streetsblog investigation uncovered scores of used car dealerships that have fraudulently issued temporary license plates, which flow through a thriving black market to drivers who use them to skirt accountability on the road. “He may be a licensed dealer in New Jersey, but he’s definitely doing something fugazi,” Burke said when informed of Streetsblog’s findings. But Thomas Burke, a recently retired NYPD auto crime detective who has investigated temp tag fraud, doubts ECL owner Christopher Lizardo is actually selling that many cars. That’s far more than the number of cars sold by the average New Jersey dealer. And yet, ECL Auto Empire printed more than 600 New Jersey temporary license plates last year, according to data obtained by Streetsblog through public records requests. The phone number listed on its website is disconnected. You cannot read reviews of the company or look at its inventory online. And the dealership that issued it might as well not exist.ĮCL Auto Empire, as the business is called, has no lot full of cars for sale at its dealership address. But the records indicate the truck was last sold in 2017-years before the temporary license plate was issued. New Jersey dealerships can only legally put temp tags, as they’re known, on cars they’ve just sold or leased. Vehicle history records obtained by Streetsblog suggest otherwise. From the perspective of law enforcement, it appeared to be legal. It was issued by a licensed New Jersey car dealership. Many were counterfeits.īut the temporary tag on the truck that killed Walter Gonzalez wasn’t fake. Drivers were using them to mask their identities while evading tolls and traffic cameras, or while committing more serious crimes, authorities said. During the pandemic, cars with paper tags suddenly seemed to be everywhere, not least in New York City. It was a New Jersey temporary tag, the kind that dealerships affix to newly sold cars so that customers can drive off before receiving permanent metal plates. It was not out of the ordinary that the driver was speeding, nor that his license had been revoked months prior.īut there was one thing that stood out about the crash: the paper license plate hanging from the back of the truck. In some respects, there was nothing unusual about the killing of Walter Gonzalez.Įighty-six pedestrians had already died in car crashes in New York City last year by October 23, when a driver slammed a pick-up truck into Gonzalez in Brooklyn.
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