He got a parking ticket, but he says his car was in his driveway. Here’s what he did.

The letters on the envelope jumped out in bold, underlined print.

“Official Legal Notice.”

When Ronald Tkach, who lives in Short Hills, opened the mailing, he had no idea what to expect.

It was a notice about an unpaid parking ticket issued by East Orange at 1:49 am on Feb. 13 to Tkach’s blue Honda Pilot.

It said Tkach didn’t pay the fine and he didn’t appear in court to fight the ticket, so if he didn’t pay within seven days — $55 for the violation and a $10 late penalty — his license could be suspended and a warrant would be issued for his arrest.

But Tkach said it had to be an error because he hadn’t been in East Orange.

“I was mistakenly targeted,” he said.

Tkach contacted East Orange police about the ticket, but they told him to contact the municipal court, he said. He tried calling the court and left messages several times, but no one returned his calls, he said.

“I tried to get a copy of the ticket so I could see what make and model and color was on it, but was unsuccessful in getting a copy, nor could I get anyone in East Orange to even look at the ticket for me,” Tkach said. “If the original ticket is hand generated and describes the vehicle, then odds are very good that it would not provide a description that matches my vehicle.”

Given that time was short and because he didn’t want to risk his license, he decided to pay the ticket. Enclosed with his check was an explanation that the ticket was a mistake.

In the letter, Tkach wrote that he believed that at some point, someone improperly transcribed the plate number or maybe transposed the digits. He included a copy of his registration showing what kind of car he drove, hoping someone would recognize the error and exonerate him.

But that didn’t happen. East Orange cashed the $65 check on Aug. 6 and no one responded to Tkach’s letter.

He asked Bamboozled for help.

GETTING A FIX

We reached out to East Orange to get a copy of the ticket. It didn’t provide one, but it requested Tkach call a specific court administrator.

He did, and the administrator set up a Sept. 9 Zoom court date.

In the meantime, he received a court document, not a ticket, that said his car was black, not blue.

“I suppose that whoever couldn’t get the color right also couldn’t get the license plate number right, and entered my license plate number instead of the plate number of the offending vehicle,” he said. “Seems like there must have been poor lighting.”

Then came the court date.

“I explained to the judge that I believed that the license plate number was improperly transcribed in their system,” he said. “He asked me if anyone else had access to the car to which I replied no.”

The parking ticket was vacated by the judge, who said Tkach would get a $65 refund.

But he never got an answer about whether the ticket was handwritten or computer generated, and East Orange has not released a copy of the ticket to Tkach or to Bamboozled.

“This issue has been resolved through the East Orange Municipal Court System as a refund has been executed,” a city hall staffer said in an email.

But a police officer, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak publicly, explained that whether the ticket was handwritten or electronic wouldn’t make a difference. An officer would input the license number and the patrol car’s computer would tell the officer what make and model to write on the ticket. And if the license number was accidentally transposed and the wrong make and model came up, it might go unnoticed by the officer because the models or color could be similar. Plus, the officer said, some drivers remove any lettering on their cars based on personal preference, so they rely on the computer.

While the officer would hopefully notice if the incorrect make and model came up, there’s no guarantee, the officer said.

Tkach is still frustrated that he’ll never know exactly what happened, but he’s looking forward to putting the incident behind him.

“I would declare a complete victory once I receive (the check),” he said. “In `David versus Goliath’ in real life, David usually never wins.”

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Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.