Mercer Co. Man Hides License Plate To Skip PA Bridge Toll

MERCER COUNTY, NJ —A Mercer County resident has been cited for hiding his license plate to skirt a toll charge at the Scudder Falls Toll Bridge, PA in late March.

The bi-state Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission released video footage Wednesday showing Ronnie Melendez, 36, of Ewing, N.J., exiting his vehicle on the bridge’s Pennsylvania-bound shoulder and then covering his vehicle’s license plates before getting back in the vehicle’s driver seat and proceeding beneath the bridge’s all-electronic toll-collection gantry into Pennsylvania. Watch the video here.

Melendez’s roadside license plate covering actions were viewed by Commission security personnel and recorded by cameras on the bridge on the evening of March 29.
Security personnel were able to record the license plate numbers on Melendez’s vehicle before he obscured them.

The license information and film footage were forwarded to Pennsylvania State Police who tracked down Melendez and filed a summons in Lower Makefield Township municipal court for obscuring license plates.

Melendez subsequently pleaded guilty and provided payment of $229.10 in fines and other assessments to the municipal court, which was recorded on April 8.

Had Melendez crossed the bridge without obscuring his license plates, he would have been mailed a TOLL-BY-PLATE invoice for $3. If he had E-ZPass, the toll would have been $1.25, the commission said.

“As these recent toll-scofflaw matters attest, we intend to use every tool at our disposal to enforce compliance at our toll-collection points along the Delaware River,” said Joe Resta, the DRJTBC’s executive director. “We are committed to ensuring everyone pays the tolls that are due because honest toll-paying customers shouldn’t be subsidizing the few who think they can cheat the system.”

The Commission's jurisdiction extends along the Delaware River from the Philadelphia-Bucks County line north to the New Jersey/New York border. More than 128.1 million cars and trucks crossed Commission bridges in 2022.