$44K toll runner is not alone

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - A Pflugerville man could have bought a luxury car with the money he owes for unpaid trips on local toll roads.

"$44,000 -- it blew my mind," said Charles Ackridge who has been taking SH 130 for three years.

According to the Texas Department of Transportation, Charles passed the toll booth 1900 times.

"We'd always wonder, where's the bills?" said Charles who claimed he never received anything in the mail even though he was using the pay by mail lane.

Correspondance finally came in the form of a court notice. He was ordered to appear in a Williamson County courtroom last week for getting free rides.

TxDot said his case is one of 37 they filed last week. It is the second round of toll runners the state agency has hauled to county court. The first wake-up call was last spring, following a grace period where late fees were slashed to get people to pay up.

They have chosen a very small percentage of drivers who have racked up the highest bills. Dale Rye with the Williamson County Attorney's Office said these are people with more than 700 violations and more than $20,000 in late fees and collection fees.

"We don't like taking people to court, "said Chris Lippincott, TxDOT spokesperson. "It's expensive, our goal is to build customers."

Bill or no bill, TxDOT said people who have been using the tollroad for free need to contact them as quickly as possible and make sure their addresses are up to date with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.

Charles said his address is current, and he called several times, but never stayed on the line long enough to get past the recording.
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Wednesday, the court offered to knock Charles' $44,000 fine down to $7,000. He plead 'not guilty' and wants to see how his criminal process will play out.

"I'll have my peers decide if I'm guilty or not," said Charles.