Stolen license plates costing Minnesota couple more than $1,000

(KMSP) - A Minnesota woman was billed for failing to pay tolls in New York and New Jersey, but says she doesn’t recognize the car or the driver pictured in surveillance photos.

Nancy Findroff’s license plates were apparently stolen after she traded her car into the dealership. Now, she’s received more than 30 tickets, all for passing through tolls several states away.

“They started on August 23, 2017… and the most recent one we received yesterday for $583,” Findroff said. “We did everything everybody told us to do, and it doesn’t stop.”

Findroff’s husband John said they traded their Toyota Camry to BMW of Minnetonka. Now, their old plates are on a Hyundai thousands of miles away.

"We called the dealership right away and they basically told us that they didn't have to take the plates off the vehicle," Nancy Findroff said.

Minnesota is one of the few states where license plates stay with the car even when it changes ownership.

BMW of Minnetonka said they sold Findoroff's old car to an auction house and that auction house sold it to a dealership in New York. That dealership said while they thought the plates were destroyed, they must have been stolen.

“It’s the car of my dreams and the nightmare that followed," Nancy Findroff said.

While Nancy enjoys her new car, this headache just won't go away - even after repeatedly sending in proof of sale documents and contacting all the government agencies they can think of.

“You'd think with all the agencies we've talked to that they'd have this plate number tagged in a system somewhere where they'll realize it's not us and they'd stop it, but nobody will stop it. It just continues," John Findroff said.

The Findroffs were recently told that the plates were flagged by law enforcement in New York and New Jersey as stolen, but there still haven’t been any arrests. 

“We don't know when it will stop or if it ever will."