Habitual toll offenders in Dallas County facing outstanding balances of tens of thousands of dollars are the focus of this week’s installment of The Dallas Express‘ Most Wanted.
DX has been highlighting the Most Wanted offenders of Dallas-Fort Worth in this new biweekly series. Earlier this month, a spotlight was put on Dallas’ Most Wanted murderers. This week, we’re looking at toll violators who have, for whatever reason, been identified by Dallas County as its Most Wanted offenders.
Since the Texas Department of Transportation began enforcing scofflaw legislation passed in 2013, tolls have become so abundant across the state that one might think they could have led Benjamin Franklin to put them on equal footing with death and taxes.
The Lone Star State punishes those who fail to pay tolls with a criminal misdemeanor. However, an outstanding balance can also result in several other nuisances for drivers, such as a registration block on their vehicle after 100 or more unpaid tolls and two notice of nonpayment issuances in a year. That freeze can only be removed once a driver has paid the outstanding fines.
Here is a rundown of the top five toll-dodgers wanted in Dallas County as of June 20:
Keondrick B. Williams tops the Most Wanted list with an outstanding balance of $116,696.18. The Dallas motorist has allegedly paid nothing towards this balance, which dates back to 2014.
James M. Johnson of Irving has the second-highest outstanding toll balance. He reportedly owes the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) $83,192.41, and his offenses date back to 2013.
Jermey Smith, another Dallas motorist, is sought for $76,660.72 in allegedly unpaid tolls dating back to 2013.
Delfino Perez Jr. of Duncanville also appears on this list due to toll violations dating back to 2013. According to records, he would have to pay $66,850.46 to set things right with county authorities.
Janet Garcia, a motorist from Rowlett, has offenses dating back to 2014 for a total balance of $64,139.35.
Although NTTA could not confirm the outstanding balances of those listed on the Dallas County website, its media relations manager, Michael Rey, explained to DX that habitual violators (HVs) constitute a significant problem, even if they represent a small minority of the customers using its toll roads.
“These are not drivers who once happened onto a toll road and quickly got off. These drivers have routinely used toll roads and do not pay,” he said.
Rey added that NTTA is a not-for-profit entity that does not receive tax dollars, meaning that tolls are an important funding source for building and maintaining roads to keep up with the region’s explosive growth.
In Dallas County, a total of 397,018 HVs — identified by their license plates — logged over 70 million unpaid rides on toll roads since 2013. Roughly 30% of the outstanding toll balance of over $131 million has been resolved by just over 120,000 HVs as of June 20.
Alongside leveraging enforcement actions against HVs, NTTA offers them installed payment agreements to help see that their large balances are resolved.
“Our overall goal is always the same — collect tolls due and get customers back to good standing,” Rey said.