Pleas Announced in Pennsylvania License Plate Ring

Authorities have announced pleas in a ring that they said made millions renting out fraudulently obtained Pennsylvania license plates.

Fifty-one-year-old Rafael Levi of Brooklyn, New York, entered open guilty pleas Friday to three dozen counts in Dauphin County.

Authorities said the people who rented the Pennsylvania plates – which were packaged with fraudulent insurance paperwork – used the anonymity to evade traffic tickets, parking fines and highway tolls.

The attorney general’s office said eight other people also entered pleas, and Levi, the ringleader, also pleaded guilty on behalf of nine businesses.

Levi was charged in April 2017 with hundreds of counts. Defense attorney Geoffrey McInroy said Monday his client had accepted responsibility, as evidenced by not only the pleas but his plan to pay restitution that would probably top $1 million.