An affluent Orange County man was arrested Friday after police said he used counterfeit disabled parking placards to turn an Irvine apartment complex into storage space for his luxury car collection.
Authorities said six fraudulent placards were recovered during the investigation, alleging the suspect used them to keep multiple high-end vehicles parked in disabled spaces at the residential community.
Police photos of seized key fobs indicated the man owned or had access to five Mercedes-Benz vehicles and three BMWs.
“We recently got a tip that a man was using disabled placards to store his cars in disabled parking spaces at an apartment community,” the Irvine Police Department said.
“Traffic Detectives investigated and determined six cars had bogus placards,” the department wrote in an Instagram post announcing the arrest.
“There is zero excuse for placard abuse, and those taking advantage of the system can expect strict enforcement,” police added.
Images released by investigators appeared to show fake disabled parking placards displayed on a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon and a BMW.
The case drew attention online in part because the suspect appeared connected to a fleet of luxury European vehicles worth close to $1 million, leaving many questioning why he would allegedly exploit parking accommodations intended for people with disabilities.
”If he owns five Benzes and two beamers he can afford a parking space or ten,” one commented.
Another user commented on the post “Interesting. I’ve been noticing a lot of cars in apartments using out of state handicap placards recently and thought that was weird/out of ordinary,”.
“Likely running a car rental business and thought free parking opportunity,” another person added on.
The suspect will likely face charges such as a misuse of disabled placards, which can be considered a misdemeanor punishable by fines up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail.
During enforcement efforts pushed by the DMV back in 2018, investigators in 20 different operations found about 8% of drivers using disabled placards fraudulently. Drivers in Pomona and Stockton also had the highest citation rates at 20% or higher.
