![]() ![]() I knew that the Texas Legislature recently codified the Failure or Refusal to Pay Toll as a criminal offense and that it carries a maximum fine of $250. I was curious why this man rejected the State’s plea offer, where he would pay $7,652.86 for his $44,627.70 of unpaid tolls and fees. (Because TXDOT and the State had anticipated reaching a plea agreement and not actually going to trial, only three of his thousands of toll violations had been charged at that time.) As an assistant county attorney here, I try class C misdemeanor cases pending in the justice of the peace courts. I first learned about Ackridge’s thousands of toll violations earlier this year when he chose to set the first class C charge for a jury trial in Williamson County. Apparently, Ackridge has multiple vehicles, frequently utilizing the toll roads in central Texas for his flooring business. This first account (totaling $44,627.70) led to class C misdemeanor charges of Failure or Refusal to Pay Toll.1 TXDOT has yet to file on Ackridge’s other vehicles, which have racked up approximately 6,000 in unpaid tolls whose values and penalties total in excess of $80,000. With one vehicle, for example, Ackridge racked up 1,946 tolls totaling $1,892.70, plus another $42,735.00 in unpaid penalties. (Vehicles without stickers are photographed and the license plate noted TXDOT then sends an invoice to the registered driver through the postal service.) Ackridge’s vehicles have benefitted from TXDOT toll roads in central Texas-without payment of thousands of tolls-for the last three years. How did one man rack up so many unpaid tolls?Īckridge is the registered owner of several vehicles with no TxTags, the electronic stickers people place on their windshields to automatically pay a toll via an electronic account when they pass through a toll station. Assistant County Attorney in Williamson CountyĪs of this spring, Charles Ackridge, the owner of a flooring company, had 1,946 unpaid tolls with the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT), which operates several toll roads in the state.
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