Menifee Man Fighting $27,000 In Fines Stemming From Express Lane Violations

MENIFEE (CBSLA.com) — An Inland Empire man is fighting $27,000 in fines stemming from express lane violations and claims the Orange County Transportation Authority is in the wrong.

Cameron Aanestad of Menifee is fighting collections for more than 100 violations on the 91 Express Lanes spanning more than a year.

Aanestad, a 31-year-old father, says he knew nothing of the violations because he claims his FasTrak Pass always beeped when he used it.

But then, he says, a bill showed up a few months ago and he learned something was wrong.

"I'm not a crook. I had no idea there was a problem," he said.

Aanestad shares an Express Lanes account with his mother and claims her debit card was deactivated unknowingly and the pair had no idea OCTA wasn't getting paid for Aanestad's trips.

He claims they never got a notice and says their address always remained current with OCTA.

"When they wanted $27,000, they knew where I was at. When they wanted it three bucks a time, ugh, crickets," he said.

An OCTA spokesperson declined to speak on camera claiming accounts are private but wrote an email that said the following:

"We work very hard to resolve any issues that arise with people driving on the 91 Express Lanes. For the privacy of our customers, we can't discuss individual accounts. I can say that we follow the same process for any violation that occurs. Three separate notices are sent to the account holder's address for each and every violation. The first notice is sent 10 days after a violation occurs, the second notice is sent 30 days later, and a third notice is sent 60 days after that. For example, if there are 100 violations, that person will receive 300 violation notices in the mail. That's the same address where a notice would be mailed from a collection agency. If a customer receives a violation notice or has an issue with their account, we encourage them to contact us as soon as possible so we can do our best to address it."

That would've been 300 letters sent in the mail to Aanestad.

"We weren't receiving hundreds of these," he said. "Now what I have is a collections agency threatening to put a lien on my home."

Aanestad contacted a lawyer and says he would be happy to pay the original fees, which he estimates to be $1,000.