Dec 15, 2008 7:29 pm US/Eastern
Penny Problem Puts Man In Trouble With N.J. Town
Warrant Issued After Man Tried To Pay $56 Traffic Fine With Coins
NUTLEY, N.J. (CBS) ―
A Nutley, N.J. man is putting in his two cents about what he calls a lot of non-cents over a traffic ticket.
He has been trying to pay his fine in pennies, but the town is demanding he change his way of paying.
"It's very easy to count. It goes in 10s. I mean, there's five rows of 10s," Frank Gilberti said.
Gilberti showed 112 rolls of pennies to CBS station WCBS-TV in New York City. He said he thought he could use the coins to pay a traffic fine at the Bloomfield Municipal Court.
"I went to the bank and got $56 worth of rolled pennies and went down to the court house and they refused to take it. They had told me to bring cash. I was under the assumption this was cash."
Non-cents? Not really. Pennies are legal tender. In fact, at the courthouse WCBS-TV found a sign saying cash is accepted.
That's why the Nutley resident said he fought back, calling the court and convincing workers there to take his pennies.
But the 22-year-old said there was a condition -- that he write his driver's license number on each roll.
"I simply asked them if I would have to do just this if I were handing in $56 bill. Would I have to write my driver's license number on each bill? They had no response," Gilberti said.
And even more shocking he said: "Then I found out there was a warrant out for my arrest."
The funeral home employee paid a $90 bail fee in order to stay out of jail. WCBS went by to get a comment from the court, but as soon as reporters got there, they were told: "Turn the camera off."
"It's injustice. This is U.S. currency accepted all over the country [but] apparently not in Bloomfield, N.J.," Gilberti said.
Gilberti's got a court date Tuesday morning and he plans on taking all of these pennies with him, all 112 rolls.
WCBS also contacted the court system in Trenton, but no one there would comment.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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