Arrested a good one last night, 27K in parking tickets!

[FREDSTATE]

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/m...,1592470.story



A worker at the district judge's office took a deep breath before she tried to pick up Nilka Lockhart's stack of parking violations, a nearly foot-tall pile bound with rubber bands.

Lockhart – who owes more than $27,200 for hundreds of unpaid Easton parking violations and court costs – was nabbed by two constables Wednesday night. Lockhart was brought before Senior District Judge Elizabeth Romig, who has been working about a month at the now vacant district judge's office in Wilson.

Romig said in her nearly 30 years on the bench, she has never seen anything like Lockhart's case.

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She sentenced Lockhart to serve 90 days in Northampton County Prison.

"She said, 'You're going to send me to jail for parking tickets?' And I said, 'Yes, I am,'" Romig recalled Thursday. "I told her, 'You could have bought yourself a new car with this.'"

Lockhart, 46, of 1445 Lehigh St. has been racking up Easton parking and vehicle violations since 2007 including illegal parking, driving an unregistered vehicle, failing to have a current inspection, storage of a vehicle on a street and failing to pay the meter.

For each violation that Lockhart failed to pay within 30 days, the citation was turned over to the district judge's office. If a notice was mailed and Lockhart still failed to make a payment, a warrant was issued for her arrest. Lockhart's file include hundreds of violations and dozens of warrants.

Lockhart had arranged several times with the office to pay for the violations, Romig said, but failed to keep up with the payments.

"It's a blatant disregard for the law," Romig said. "It's as simple as that."

Parking tickets in Easton are issued by one of six parking enforcement officers, said police Capt. Carl Scalzo, who supervises the department. Scalzo said he was not familiar with the details of Lockhart's case.

He said most people aren't aware that failing to pay a $20 parking ticket could result in a warrant issued for their arrest.

In 2007, a violation against Lockhart for failing to put money in a parking meter languished so long it was sent to Northampton County Court. In Febuary, Lockhart pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to pay more than $1,800. So far, Lockhart has paid about $700 in fines and costs.

This month, Romig said two constables have served more than 500 warrants out of the Wilson office, many are for motor vehicle violations. The constables who arrested Lockhart did not want their names used.

Easton has its share of parking scofflaws. District Judge Gay Elwell recently sent police a top 10 list of violators who owe about $41,000 in violations, fines and costs, Scalzo said.

One person on the list owes about $7,000, he said.

Scalzo said the city is experimenting with a wireless system tied to 50 meters downtown. If someone parks a vehicle and doesn't plug the meter within a few minutes, an alert noting the location is sent to parking enforcement officers, who can immediately ticket violators.

Many downtown merchants have told police business is improving with the new system because more parking spots are available, Scalzo said.

"We're not trying to balance the budget on tickets, but we're hoping the violators will get the message and comply," he said. "Just put a quarter in the meter or if there's a sign telling you not to park there, don't."



Fred

[Shawn T]

What kind of a payday do you receive on that one? Fee for each warrant or is it combined?

[mcsap]

I got a guy once who had $925 in parking warrants , all committments and thought that was a lot !! He didn't have the bucks and went to jail.

Nice job.

[timothystucke]

I had one a few months ago that owed more than $10,000.00 parking an movers. I was looking for him off and on for a year and caught up to him one day. He had 27 active warrants and the judge would only pay me for four. What can you do....It is nice to clear it up...

[Constable&FF]

I see you are posting again Welcome Back

[FREDSTATE]

It was a 4K payday for each of us... 144 warrants. Double billed because she is a female according to the fee bill.

We put a TON of work in over the course of the last several months, each one of us were assaulted by her family trying to arrest her as she was able to escape in one instance.

Both her kids were jailed on felony charges and her house shut down by the city for filth and neglect when we trampled through knee high piles of rotting garbage and who know's what searching for her in her house one day.

She stayed at several houses off and on and in different places to avoid arrest and drove several different cars.


This was NOT an easy arrest by any means or an easy pay day but the rewards are sweet, finally.

I have NEVER arrested so many people as I've arrested this month. Myself and my partner have been arresting between 10-15 a day on top of those that we scare running into the court to evade us and just pay.

We've been doing all this on top of trying to track her down, fielding tips and leads from almost every source...police, public, crackheads you name it! LOL!

I need a vacation, luckily I now can afford to take one next month. LMAO!

Fred

[maynard]

Originally Posted by FREDSTATE

It was a 4K payday for each of us... 144 warrants. Double billed because she is a female according to the fee bill.

We put a TON of work in over the course of the last several months, each one of us were assaulted by her family trying to arrest her as she was able to escape in one instance.

Both her kids were jailed on felony charges and her house shut down by the city for filth and neglect when we trampled through knee high piles of rotting garbage and who know's what searching for her in her house one day.

She stayed at several houses off and on and in different places to avoid arrest and drove several different cars.


This was NOT an easy arrest by any means or an easy pay day but the rewards are sweet, finally.

I have NEVER arrested so many people as I've arrested this month. Myself and my partner have been arresting between 10-15 a day on top of those that we scare running into the court to evade us and just pay.

We've been doing all this on top of trying to track her down, fielding tips and leads from almost every source...police, public, crackheads you name it! LOL!

I need a vacation, luckily I now can afford to take one next month. LMAO!

Fred

congratulations on your hard work and efforts. you guy's deserve every penny of it.

maynard

[SARK9]

Originally Posted by FREDSTATE

We put a TON of work in over the course of the last several months, each one of us were assaulted by her family trying to arrest her as she was able to escape in one instance.

Both her kids were jailed on felony charges and her house shut down by the city for filth and neglect when we trampled through knee high piles of rotting garbage and who know's what searching for her in her house one day.

She stayed at several houses off and on and in different places to avoid arrest and drove several different cars.

I wish we could make lawmakers, training providers, and others who make legal decisions for PSCs understand our jobs better. I always cringe when I read statements like..."constables are just paper servers"...or they "just serve minor warrants". They have no concept of how we actually do our jobs by conducting investigations, protecting ourselves from assault, and keeping ourselves and others safe while stepping into the unknown world of irresponsible criminals.

Excellent job Fred (and unknown deputy...LOL)! This is the kind stuff we need to see in the newspaper!