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PennDOT review: PennDOT indefinitely suspended a Driver License under my identity without cause or reason 16 years ago.

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1:35 pm EDT
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PennDOT has violated all of my rights and left me without an ID, and Driver License and they have made this permanent- they claim it will last for the rest of my life.

Because of this I cannot relocate or travel, I've been denied my right to vote, and my right to have police assistance in reclaiming my stolen property- both of my vehicles are still stolen. This means my freedom and the rest of my life, because of an Identity Theft case I was victim of in 1995, PennDOT has punished me with one of the most severe actions I have ever heard of, and they refuse to be reasonable and let me fight this 18 year old case in court, in front of an impartial judge. This punitive action began in 2008 and has worsened, and I have been denied my right to a trial since then, in Pa.

Here are the details:

The following complaint was originally emailed to Call For Action, the international, nonprofit network of consumer hotlines, in 2012. They refused to deal with PennDOT, however, and the lawyer I paid last year to help me with this said PennDOT was above the law and he could not pursue this case- even though he gave me his word BEFORE I paid him that he would clear my name and get me back my driver license, he then refused to pursue justice in this matter...

As of April 23, 2013, PennDOT representatives claimed it would be a violation of HIPAA laws to speak to anyone other than me about this- but they will not discuss this with me either, I've been trying for the past 5 years. This has to be one of the MOST bizarre things that have ever happened to me.

Excerpted:

1. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, or PennDOT as they're referred to as, has failed to keep on record my Surrendered PA Driver License in 1995, when this was surrendered for a CA Driver License.

2. As a consequence, PennDOT allowed the deliberate misuse of my identity after I surrendered my my driver license, they are liable for this as I reported the incident upon my discovery of it, and PennDOT chose to take no action.

3. PennDOT is responsible for maintaining a fraudulent identity for me in their database that was created in 1997 after an Identity Theft Case, it is not my identity but it's under my name and birth date and I have been unable to have it removed.

4. This has caused me irreparable harm as there is an "indefinite suspension/revocation" under my name, which according to PennDOT, "is for the rest of my life", and cannot be removed because the suspension/revocation lacks violation codes. PennDOT also will not grant me an ID Card.

5. Since this has happened (I discovered it in 2008) my character has been defamed due to the implied wrongdoing associated with a record like this as well as the following:
I have been denied my freedom to drive, renew my driver license, register to vote, transfer my out-of-state driver license, apply for a job, rent a vehicle and relocate, identify myself, access my banking, buy alcohol, enter into contracts that require a driver license in good standing, enter buildings/establishments that requires the displaying of a driver license, drive to much needed medical offices for treatments, drive to the pharmacies to pick up special medicine for my medical conditions, drive to get food from the market, my car insurance through GEICO has been terminated because of this, the police won't help me get my stolen vehicles back without my driver license, etc...

This has happened despite a perfect driving history. I have no parking or speeding tickets, never had a DUI or points assessed against me, and I never had a gap in car insurance.

The problem I'm reporting has a back story:

Since I was 16 years of age, I held a Pennsylvania Driver License in good standing. Until I moved to CA and surrendered that license at the CA DMV for a California Driver License, in 1995.

From 1995 through consecutively to 2012, I held in good standing, a California State Driver License. I've also had a well documented Good Driver Discount with every car insurance carrier I've been with, as with my last carrier, GEICO. I've had GEICO for about 6 years without incident.

I've had in this time period, 2 major Identity Theft cases: The one in 1991 was resolved, the one committed in 1994 was not.

In 2008, I became aware of a second identity someone had taken using/abusing my personal information in PA. I was in a doctor's office in New Jersey when in a bizarre scene...my identity was ran by the police who accused me of having a dual identity in NJ and PA. They informed me that this PA identity had residences in NJ, multiple violations and multiple suspensions and revocations of driving privileges.
I was ticketed and fined for driving with a suspended and revoked PA Driver License. Even though I was not driving at the time that I was asked my name and birth date, and fined.

Almost 5 years later, this has become so convoluted that every agency I've gone to for help has said that there is nothing that can be done. Any time I've had my identity ran through the police system in routine ID checks I've been ticketed and fined repeatedly- unfairly for the past 4 1/2 years- even though with each fine I received, I actually was not driving at the time my identity was simply ran through the police database.

I've been denied a fair hearing in PA. NJ judges however, declared this was ID theft and beyond the statute of limitations and dismissed the charges. However, in PA I have absolutely no rights and as was stated by PennDOT, "the suspension of your driver license is indefinite- for the rest of your life", and I've been denied my right to a trial on the matter. However, when NJ state prosecutors sent "discoveries" to PennDOT, nothing came back. There are no violations under my name.
They are punishing me for their own errors.

According to the Agent I spoke with several years ago in the Financial Crimes Department, what PennDOT is doing to me is against the law, and violates my rights. I desperately need justice and my life back!

(ACTION REQUESTED)

1. I want my name cleared- with the damaging information removed from my record permanently.

2. I need to have a letter explaining PennDOT's responsibility in tarnishing my good name, with apologies to GEICO, and other agencies that passed punitive action to my detriment. It would have to be acceptable means to clear my name before a Judge, adequate for Appellant Court or Superior Court, which ever applies.
This letter should also state the necessity of restoration of all accounts before the punitive actions were taken against me. There is also the issue of the Credit Reporting Agencies- this has also ruined my credit history, because I have been fined repeatedly in Pa for thousands of dollars.

3. I would like monetary compensation for the years of hardship I've had to endure, along with the legal fees I've paid, there's the loss of opportunity and my freedom.

4. This has also cost me both of my vehicles; I have no car to get around or any way of having them returned to me unless these individuals are ordered by court to return both vehicles to me, this is justified action against me since they are demanding that I have a Pennsylvania issued Driver License to hand over the vehicles. How they originally took these vehicles away from me was done illegally, but now they are both using this situation with my Driver License to justify what they've done. I'm demanding that this be reversed.

This has not been resolved, even though I've done everything that can be done.
Right now I have the threat of unspecified jail time in Pa (I was already arrested in NJ over the false charges), thousands of dollars in fines and a permanent revocation of my driving privileges, not only in Pa, but nationally. This is preventing me from moving away from here and just about all of the things you take for granted as freedom loving citizens in America.

PennDOT said I'm not even allowed in their building now because of the arrest warrants, they said if I go down there to speak to the supervisor about this case they will have me arrested and my document files will be taken away in the process (the only evidence of my innocence). The PennDOT rep said this on speaker phone while I was in a lawyer's office last year.
I'm posting this out of 5 years of frustration, I don't know what else to do.

If anyone reading this knows of someone who can help me get my life back, and stop PennDOT from continuing this abuse, please contact me or message me.

Update by Pandorum
Sep 02, 2013 11:41 pm EDT

AN UPDATE TO MY COMPLAINT:

PennDOT refuses to respond to this complaint posted on this site, and they have not responded to me directly.

They refused to allow me to speak to a supervisor.

The inquiries that I have made on my own behalf have gone ignored.

Well, I have once again allowed myself a little belief in the system, that justice would come. But all that happened has been the same as in the last 5 years: nothing. No response from PennDOT, as usual...this nightmare doesn't seem to have any end...

Every year, I've persistently called to get one representative after another who claimed they could not answer any of my questions regarding the quoted suspension in 1997. They also could not ever get a supervisor on the phone to speak to me about this, they responded to my phone calls with mailed printouts of the punitive actions the many courts took against me beginning in [protected], but never what I asked for- the reason there is a suspension under my identity in 1997, 2 years after my Pa license was surrendered for a Ca license. And advocates have called on my behalf (one even drove out to PennDOT's office in Harrisburg); when all of them failed, I even went to the DA's office for help with this, then when that failed I went to both the local police and the state police and when that failed; then state representatives and lawyers called and wrote letters and faxes were sent- but PennDOT refused to answer any questions pertaining to this. 5 years of this...

PennDOT will not address the suspension in 1997- the source of subsequent punishments of wrongful arrest and jail time; with about 6 or 8 compounded suspensions and revocations, 4 warrants for my arrest, an indefinite suspension under my identity, I can't get an ID card so I can identify myself in public or vote. I can never drive again because of this- even though my record in both states boasts an excellent driver reputation. I believe I deserve an answer to this after all that I have gone through.

As I have compiled a preponderance of documents numbering in the thousands regarding this case (including the phone records), it has been very difficult to summarize the 5 years of hell I have gone through to obtain a little justice in this matter. I feel that I am entitled to be allowed to go on with my life and be allowed to start over after all of the identity theft issues have ended- it's been about one year after the most recent identity theft, and 18 years since the identity theft case that started all of this at PennDOT, apparently.

Again, PennDOT refuses to give an accounting of:

1. Why they did not keep the record of my surrendered Pa Driver License in 1995?

2. How can PennDOT do all of this without due process? There was no court order against me- no court codes, docket numbers or any violation codes on the 1997 suspension in my driver history.

3. Why did they allow an identity theft to persist in 1997, AFTER I had reported who the person was using my identity and committing fraud in my name in 1994, when it was the Pa Driver License card that was being used AFTER it had been physically surrendered at the DMV office, 1995 in California? How was this even possible? Again, there are no answers only these bizarre, illogical circumstances.

4. Why has the logic of this fact escaped everyone: How could a Pa driver license card be PHYSICALLY SURRENDERED AND DESTROYED by the California DMV in 1995, then be used over 3000 miles away in 1997 on the east coast in Pennsylvania (or New Jersey) while I was physically living and working in California?

5. What is the meaning of and reason behind assigning my identity with a suspension in 1997?

6. Why are they refusing to fix this?

7. And why have I been denied my right to a trial, proper inquest or a hearing in front of examiners (which even the police said was my right under the law)?

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