A former New York City cab driver, whose license was suspended more than a decade ago, has been posing as a licensed taxi driver with his yellow Toyota, according an article in The New York Post. The city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) is now fighting to permanently seize George Caraballo’s 2013 Prius, due to repeated violations. In the last six months, he was caught twice posing as a legitimate yellow medallion driver, according to a TLC lawsuit filed in May. His second violation came only two weeks after he pleaded guilty to the first.
A TLC inspector first watched him drive his yellow Prius to pick up a hailing passenger in Manhattan in November, the suit states – for which he was fined $1,500 for “operating for hire a vehicle that is not licensed by the TLC.” Just 15 days after he copped to the first violation, he was at it again, the suit states. On April 8, he was caught by a TLC inspector picking up a group of four people near Penn Station, the suit alleges. The fake taxi was immediately seized by the TLC.
An attorney for the TLC argued that the commission should retain Caraballo’s car while the city pursues its civil forfeiture case against him to permanently take possession of the bogus cab, records show.
Caraballo apparently pulled the same stunt with a different car in 2020, “evidence of the respondent’s flagrant disregard for the rules,” the TLC’s lawyer stated.
“Illegal taxi and for-hire vehicle operators pose a threat to the riding public, as they typically lack proper insurance, use unsafe vehicles, and often overcharge unsuspecting riders. They also steal trips from hardworking, law-abiding TLC drivers,” TLC spokesperson James Parziale said.
Caraballo’s representative, Joseph Scifo – a non-lawyer who has been repping FHV drivers in administrative court for decades – argued that the car is set up as a yellow cab because it operates legitimately as a taxi in Rockland County. Hearing officer Patricia Cardoso found that the TLC failed to show that keeping the Prius was “necessary to protect the public,” and ordered that the vehicle be returned after he paid a $2,000 fine. Despite his Prius being released, Caraballo could still lose it. Since he posed as a fake taxi “twice within 36 months, and the same vehicle was used in both offenses,” the TLC argued in its suit, it is “subject to forfeiture.”
Source: The New York Post
