An investigation finds perhaps thousands of Nebraskans are illegally registering their vehicles in Iowa or South Dakota. Colonel Bryan Tuma, with the Nebraska State Patrol, says the revelation comes after a two-month investigation by the patrol’s auto fraud division.
"In January of 2008, the Nebraska State Patrol began looking into a number of cases in which Nebraska residents were believed to be breaking state law by registering their vehicles in the states of Iowa and South Dakota," Tuma explains. Tuma says the investigation finds the actions are costing Nebraska upwards of 11-million dollars a year in lost fees on vehicle titles and registrations.
He says: "The Nebraska State Patrol auto fraud division, working with the Department of Motor Vehicles, has generated a list of potentially 14,000 individuals who have illegally registered their vehicles in either Iowa or South Dakota." Tuma says the patrol has moved from the investigation’s first phase to the second and is now actively engaged in bringing the Nebraskans who’ve crossed the border into compliance.
He says the investigation has led to at least one arrest so far and voluntary compliance by several other people. Nebraska’s D-M-V director Beverly Noth says the Husker State’s law-abiding taxpayers are the victims when other people choose to illegally register their vehicles in other states. Legislators in Iowa just approved a plan to raise vehicle registration fees in the state.