NEW YORK — A Brooklyn man could face prison for using a discarded government permit to get free parking in Manhattan.
David Hernandez, 47, of Marine Park, was arrested last Wednesday and arraigned the next day for criminal possession of a forged instrument, a felony charge. If convicted, he could face up to seven years in prison.
On Tuesday, May 1, city investigators spotted what looked like a forged Department of Investigation (DOI) parking permit on the dashboard of Hernandez’s car, parked on Cedar Street in lower Manhattan. The placard was a different color than the official DOI permit and had expired in 2005.
Investigators arrested Hernandez seven weeks later, a block and a half away at 80 Maiden Lane.
Hernandez, a maintenance worker at a private Manhattan company, told investigators that he found the placard on the street. He gave it to them and apologized, saying it was “a big mistake,” according to the DOI.
Hernandez’s Legal Aid attorney, Douglas Lyons, declined to comment.
“This arrest comes as the mayor is trying to combat traffic congestion in the city and at a time when parking is at a premium,” DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said in a statement. “Forging a city parking placard to secure free parking is not just a crime, it adds to the bottlenecks already clogging New York City streets.”
This investigation was conducted by DOI’s Inspector General’s Office for the Department of Parks & Recreation, under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner Vincent E. Green and members of his staff, including Deputy Inspector General Theresa Land-Latta, Special Investigator Herman Haynes and Assistant Inspector General Belarminia Ortiz.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case.
— By Elizabeth Stull
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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