Star Trek license plates saga on Long Island is finally over. Here’s how an attorney ended a grandmother’s nightmare
By Jennifer McLogan
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HUNTINGTON, New York (WCBS) — A Long Island retiree who no longer drives has been receiving thousands of dollars in parking tickets from all over the country because she says her license plates matched the Star Trek Starship Enterprise numbers.
However, it appears CBS News New York’s story last week has brought a resolution.
Beda Koorey’s science fiction-themed dilemma It has been four years of tears for Huntington grandmother Beda Koorey. After beginning to lose her eyesight, she gave up driving, sold her car, and surrendered her license plates in 2020.
The problem is Koorey’s New York plates shared the same number as the Starship Enterprise — NCC 1701 — and Trekkies all over the globe have been buying matching novelty plates, putting them on their vehicles, and racking up hundreds of tickets that have been delivered to Koorey’s mailbox.
“I want to cry because it’s a simple matter that they could have fixed,” Koorey said Thursday.
She has even received threats from Ohio and Canada, places where people with those fake plates committed crimes.
“Within two hours of receiving the letter, I got a call from the general counsel,” attorney Kenneth Mollins said.
Mollins said not on my watch
Mollins saw CBS News New York’s original story and volunteered his expertise.
“This is a lady who was beaten up by a big, bad corporation for four years,” Mollins said.
Although the New York Department of Motor Vehicles told CBS News New York that Koorey was no longer attached to the Star Trek plates, Mollins’ research determined her name and address were never removed, so he got the DMV’s top brass involved.
CBS News New York was there when Koorey got news she called life-altering.
“Your matter has been totally resolved,” Mollins said.
“Thank you so much,” Koorey said.
“Yay, finally, after four years,” she added.
How to prevent this from happening to anyone else Koorey will no longer get those tickets, but it begs the question: who will?
Some of the companies manufacturing the Star Trek and other novelty plates are selling them with pre-drilled holes for mounting on vehicles.
“It’s now illegal to sell vanity plates in New York,” Mollins said.
The Parking and Violations Bureau told CBS News New York it is moving to dismiss Koorey’s 194 New York City tickets, and Mollins said he will now work on hundreds of summonses from 23 other states that want Koorey’s money.
“Now I’m going to make a hole in the yard and bury these documents, these hundreds of tickets,” Koorey said.
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