If you’ve ever racked up a stack of past-due turnpike tolls, just remember: It could always be worse. You could be like the trucker who’s currently staring down more than a year in prison and the surrender of his semi for evading tolls on the Ohio Turnpike. An investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol resulted in a grand theft indictment for the driver, who’s accused of skipping out on $21,991 in tolls over two years.
The Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission announced the charge on Friday, May 1. It isn’t the only time that the OTIC has made news recently, as it formed a partnership with the OSHP to nail criminal toll evaders. Such antics have become a serious problem, with roughly 300 trucking companies accumulating almost $5.2 million in past due tolls since April 2024.
“OSHP, OTIC, and our partners will continue to work together to improve overall safety along the 241-mile Ohio Turnpike, which traverses through 13 counties across northern Ohio, and to address toll evasion or related offenses, including the use of fictitious license plates and plates that are obscured, covered, or removed,” reads a press release from the OSHP.
My guess is you wouldn’t want to be stopped by a highway patrolman with your tags intentionally out of whack. Maximum penalties for grand theft in Ohio include up to 18 months in prison and a $10,000 fine. Of course, not everyone who’s unable to pay their toll on time will get such severe punishment, but you can pretty much bet on it if you’re a serial offender.
While I would never call the Ohio Turnpike “cheap,” it would take a lot of trips to accumulate almost $22,000 in charges—even for a Class 8 semi. To drive the entire route from the Eastgate entrance to the Westgate exit, the non-EZ Pass fare is $156. Shorter trips obviously cost less, so unless this guy was traveling across the whole thing every time, he must have been driving it constantly.
If there’s a lesson to learn from all this, I guess it’s pretty simple: Don’t evade tollbooths, especially enough times to go to jail for it.
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