Repeat Parking Offenders Owe City Thousands In Unpaid Fines

Parking violators owe the City of Greenville nearly $200,000 in unpaid parking tickets, according to Dennis Garrett, the city’s general manager for parking services.

Its an update to a "7 On Your Side" Investigation we first broke in early 2010.

We uncovered the problem (BELOW)--showing you how the 18 biggest repeat offenders had more than $29,000 in outstanding fines.

Now the city tells us, records dating back to 2006 show, fines that remain unpaid now total almost $174,000.

In our original report (BELOW), the city said they would be going after violators tax refunds to recoup revenue.

The city now says they have already recouped "thousands" of dollars and are in the process of targeting more violators, according to Garrett.

Also, the city says, since their February implementation of stiffer fees for repeat violators, and our investigation, they have reduced the number of drivers violating long term parking all together.

Original Story:

Taking up spaces, after their time's up, and doing it time and time again.

One Upstate city says the number of parking offenders is out of control.

The City of Greenville is going after those they say are stiffing the city of mega parking fines.

We first reported a few weeks ago on how the city is cracking down on repeat parking violators.

"7 On Your Side" Wanted To Know: Who are the city's worst offenders--and why?

Through the Freedom Of Information act, we uncovered, the City of Greenville has a list of 18 of the biggest repeat parking violators.

Together, they have nearly 13-hundred unpaid parking fines, totaling more than $29,000. Money, that is supposed to be in the city's pocket.

Of those 18, all of them have 45 or more violations that the city says are unpaid. Some of the unpaid tickets go back 4 years.

One of the Top 5 violators on the list, is Karis McPherson, with a reported 96 unpaid violations, totaling $2,244.

We tracked her down. She says she worked in downtown Greenville, and doesn't deny getting lots of tickets, but thought she paid them off. She also says she paid for a permanent spot after getting so many tickets.

Carlson: "You're on the list--you owe the city 22-hundred dollars."

McPherson: "I didn't know that." "I was constantly getting tickets, I did get behind, but I did pay a huge lump some of money and I thought it was all settled."

The City of Greenville tells us they are going after those who rack up tons and tons of unpaid violations. They plan to take it out of violators' state tax returns this year.

They also say if they see a repeat violator's license plate in the city limits they will put a boot on the car until the fines are all paid.

The city says most of those top repeat offenders either live downtown, work, or once worked downtown.

City leaders say this has become a problem for business owners who lack spaces for customers, as well as when someone takes up a spot too long, it slows turnover and reduces the city revenue.

The City of Greenville is taking action.

In addition to going after offenders' tax returns, the city is increasing fines based on how many citations a drive has received.

Ten bucks more will be added to new tickets for repeat violators.

Here is a list of the 18 biggest offenders as provided by the City of Greenville:

TAWANNA SMITH

65 violations

$1,470 owed

DANIEL MORGAN

65 Violations

$1,515

FELECIA SMITH

99 violations

$2,221

JAMES CAMPBELL

50 violations

$1,150

CONNIE HAUN

114 violations

$2,480

ANGELA WILSON

54 violations

$1,068

KYRUS FULLER

50 violations

$1,162

REA ESSEX

48 violations

$1,096

BRYANT HAMLIN

87 violations

$1,914

JIMMY CHALK

51 violations

$1,233

SHEENA MATTISON

83 violations

$1,702

COURTNEY VIRES

57 violations

$1,231

CHELSEA HASTINGS

120 violations

$2,738

AUDITH NEWMAN

87 violations

$1,821

ELIZABETH SHORT

64 violations

$1,668

KARIS MCPHERSON

96 violations

$2,244

RANDALL PICHA

51 violations

$1,170

KAREN MOORE

51 violations

$1,175