Bought old car in her name, dumped it at airport parking lot where it got 678 tickets
BarkGrowlBite | August 24, 2013
When Brandon Preveau’s girlfriend, Jennifer Fitzgerald, broke up with him three years ago, he decided to get even. Preveau, a United Airlines employee, bought a battered 1999 Chevy, registered it in Fitzgerald’s name and dumped it in the O’Hare Airport employee parking lot. Because Fitzgerald did not have access to the employee parking lot, the car sat there from November 2009 to October 26, 2012, accumulating $105,761.80 in fines for 678 parking tickets.
The City of Chicago’s policy is to tow away cars that are left in its parking lots for more than 30 days. Why Fitzgerald’s car sat there for three years before it was impounded is a mystery. The car kept accumulating tickets while it sat at O’Hare.
The City was insistent that Fitzgerald, an unemployed single mother, pay the more than $105,000 in fines. Because she could not pay the fines, she was unable to obtain a driver’s license. With the help of a pro bono lawyer, she sued the City and Preveau. The City finally settled, agreeing to reduce the fines to $4,500. The settlement also requires Preveau to make a down payment of $1,600. Fitzgerald has to pay the balance at $78 a month for the next three years.
The get-even prank worked and it must have far exceeded Preveau’s expectations. But it was costly not only to his ex-girlfriend, but to the prankster as well.
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