Manager Caught Parking His Cars In City Lot Without Paying Could Owe As Much As $20K

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — In the struggle to find parking in downtown Los Angeles, some drivers are being spaced out and priced out.

Some people have to pay $250 a month to park in the Pershing Square garage run by the city of L.A.

The revenue collected is used to finance city programs for taxpayers.

For people working in the area, it's one of the few places to park.

Monthly parking is $190. Reserved spots are $250 a month.

Evidently, available parking spaces are scarce as the structure is full by 8 a.m.

But Investigative Reporter David Goldstein found one man who gets to park at least three of his cars for free on the city dime.

Jose Flores made more than $100,000 last year working as a parking manager for the city.

Most days, he was seen walking to work from his apartment near downtown, then getting dropped off near his home at the end of the day by one of his employees driving a city car.

One would automatically think he was being environmentally conscious. That was not the case.

Goldstein found a Mercedes-Benz that DMV said was registered to Flores parked in a reserved spot that costs $250 a month. It was parked there for more than a week.

Then on another floor, Goldstein found a Saab that DMV records showed was also registered to Flores.

Then there was a 1965 Ford Falcon the DMV said was owned by Flores but has not been registered since 2008.

If it had been there the entire time, that meant Flores could owe the city more than $20,000 in parking fees.

Goldstein caught up with him as he was being chauffeured to his house by a city employee in a city car.

He admitted that he had not paid the city for parking his three cars in the structure.

Flores also admitted that he has been storing his Falcon in the parking structure for nine years.

Alan Peshek was a shop steward for a city union. He said that in November, he showed city officials pictures of  Flores' three cars plus two more that he said Flores was parking in the garage, and nothing happened.

Surprisingly, Flores agreed and said it was a "mistake."

Goldstein contacted the city, which said it would investigate Flores' parking situation.