LexFather

Valley Monkey Has 37 Unpaid Photo-Enforcement Tickets; Actually He's Just a Dude in a Mask Who Won't Pay the Tickets

If you live in the Valley of the Sun, you probably have a trick or two to avoid getting busted by the speed cameras we all love so much. Some people just know exactly where they are, some buy devices to mask their license plates, and one man, police say, resorted to wearing a mask.

The man, according to police, is Dave Vontesmar.

Police say Vontesmar is the man behind the mask in at least 37 photo-radar tickets, where the driver can be seen wearing a mask to hide his identity.

Vontesmar says it's not him, despite being the owner of the car, but police disagree.

"Our officers actually conducted surveillance on him and observed him putting the mask on just prior to the photo-enforcement zone. So obviously, he intended on speeding through the zone and was covering his face intentionally," DPS Lieutenant Steve Harrison tells 92.3 KTAR. "He had two masks. One appeared to be [of] a monkey, the other one appeared to be [of] a giraffe or some type of gazelle design."

Vontesmar tells the Arizona Republic that he is refusing to pay the tickets

"Not one of them there is a picture where you can identify the driver," Vontesmar said. "The ball's in their court. I sent back all these ones I got with a copy of my drivers license, and said, 'It's not me. I'm not paying them.' "

Harrison says this is no laughing matter

Umm, yes it is.There's a guy cruising around town evading police by wearing a monkey mask; if that's not a laughing matter, what is?

Here's an idea; maybe DPS officers should go back to actually pulling people over, like in the old days. It may be difficult to nail this driver by claiming -- through speed-camera pics -- that he must be the man behind the chimp get-up.

Source.

slvrboolet

Ha thats awesome. Hope he gets away with it.

plex

iTrader: (11)

Lolz..............

TripleL

That's too funny!

Also makes me think,,,, I always thought with those photo cameras that the owner of the car was ultimately responsible for paying the ticket? Not sure why I thought that, but based on this (hilarious!) article I'd say I was mistaken.

slvrboolet

If you lend your car to gf/buddy etc why would you have to pay if they decided to speed? I bet if everyone started this they would do something like that.

darkdream

It varies... some require photo identification of the driver while others do not.

RX300-BV

If the law allowed, I would impound or boot his vehicle and site that your vehicle has been used to commit 37 misdemeanor moving offenses. Cost to free vehicle = cost of 37 speeding tickets.

mmarshall

He won't. If he is the registered owner of the car, and if there is good evidence that he was the driver, (and the police seem to have good evidence), and he continues to refuse to pay, funds from his bank account could be impounded by court order. If he doesn't have enough in the bank to cover the total, in extreme cases, his car could be impounded, or even his house partially re-mortgaged, to cover the tickets. And, as RX300 pointed out above, there is also the boot.

mmarshall

If you were not driving the car at the time it got the ticket, in most states, you can go to court and fill out an affidavit swearing you weren't driving. But, of course, that only works once or twice at the most. And, when you do that, you're under oath......get caught lying, and there are serious consequences.

B Dot

I heard this on the news yesterday it seems smart but I think he is getting greedy. 2 or 3times and police probably wouldnt mind, but 37 is outrageous. This is guy is milking this too much.

MrG4Life

iTrader: (14)

I saw this on the news but I don't recall them mentioning that the police performed surveillance on him. The guy was quoted saying that the police will have to prove it's him behind the wheel and mask. You guys gotta check out the comments left by people on the site. This one guy posted where the monkey mask guy works at and posted contact numbers for customer relations so people can call & complain to try to get the guy fired or something. If you continue to read the other comments, the guy ends up getting ripped into by others for him posting that info.

nthach

Boots aren't impervious to a strategically used oxy-acetylene torch or in some cases unbolting the axle hub assembly though - there was one person who was able to take his booted wheel off and bolt on his donut spare

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Not at all true. The government can't take your money without a day in court or an admission of guilt. A judge would have to issue a warrant, he would have to be arrested, and the government could then make their case.
Boots are not impervious to torches, but destroying government property is a crime in itself. You'd better not damage the boot or you'll definitely have charges filed against you for replacing the boot and punitive damages.

In Georgia, it is not necessary for the government to prove who was driving the car at red light cameras. The registered owner gets the no points ticket, and they've somehow subverted your fundamental right to face your accuser in court and tie a "parking ticket" to you even if you were not driving the car. I think the only reason they can do this is because no one has decided to press to test and force this issue to the state supreme court.

mmarshall

37 ignored tickets is a pretty good case for a warrant.

A court, BTW, can indeed have money impounded from a bank account. Happens all the time in alimony, child-support, back-ticket, and tax-evasion cases. That's why, when you go for an employment interview (or sometimes for a credit check), one of the questions often asked on the application form is if you have any court liens on you...because the employer, if he or she hires you, may have to divert some of your pay as court-ordered, and a loan officer will have to take that into account on your credit.

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

I must say that this thread has a funny trio of tags...