Motorist dodged paying nearly $5,500 in tolls with ‘license plate flipper,' police say

article

Preston Talbot was arrested Thursday for possessing an illegal license plate flipper. Cops say the device enabled Talbot to avoid paying nearly $5,500 in tolls on Houston roads. (Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office)

FoxNews.com - Houston cops have arrested a man they say avoided paying nearly $5,500 in tolls on Houston roads with an illegal “license plate flipper.”

Preston Talbot, 27, of Houston, was stopped Thursday for avoiding a toll on the Sam Houston Expressway and charged with a misdemeanor, police said.

“He would activate this device, putting a flipper down in front of his license plate, so the cameras at toll plazas couldn’t read his plate,” Harris County Constable Mark Herman told KHOU-TV Friday.

The device Talbot is accused of installing in his car worked with the touch of a button, the station reported.

Herman said Talbot owes $5,473 in unpaid tolls.

The devices are advertised online but are illegal to possess in Texas.

“Obviously, this was a stupid mistake,” Talbot’s mother Becki Morgan told the station.

“I have a Texas tag on my car and do everything legally,” Morgan said. “I’m not interested in shorting the system and wasn’t aware that my son was.”