An 80-year-old Seminole man says he’s being charged for a decades old ticket he never got in a state he’s never lived in and says it could all be a mix-up because of his name.
William Smith is used to finding people with his same name.
This time though, his name is costing him an $87 ticket for driving without a license in Georgia back in 1987.
He found out about the ticket when he contacted the Florida DMV to switch out his organ donor status to insulin dependent.
The thing is, Smith says he’s never lived in Georgia, only driven there on I-75 and never been in the area where records show the ticket was issued.
“I said, it’s impossible,” Smith said.
Smith says he was living in Detroit, Michigan at the time.
He also says he’s never driven the car listed on the citation, a Chevy Malibu, nor does he match the description, which lists the driver having black hair.
“I haven’t had hair since the ’70s,” he said.
Records show a William Smith with the same birth date as the Smith ABC Action News talked to lived in the address listed on the ticket.
He died in 2002.
ABC Action News is waiting to hear from the Solicitor’s office in Jackson Co. where the ticket was issued, but he wasn’t available on Wednesday to try to help sort out the situation.
For now Smith says he is not paying.
“I’m not going to pay it when I didn’t do it.”
In fact, he wants an explanation and an apology.
“Mistakes are made, I understand that,” he said, “but you have to fess up to your mistakes.”
