A Southern California woman who challenged a red-light ticket and won her case is still empty-handed as she waits for her refund of hundreds of dollars.
Marcia Moussa told NBC4 she has not gotten a penny since winning a case for the dismissal of a red-light ticket -- a dismissal that was approved in September 2012.
"I just wonder, where is my $489?" said Moussa, who admits she rightfully earned herself the citation, but knew she could fight it and possibly win given the Los Angeles Police Department's decision to stop enforcing the city's now-defunct red-light camera program.
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"I’m guilty as charged," she said. "I challenged the ticket because of the ongoing controversy with red light tickets."
Once she paid the bail required in order to pursue a dismissal, she enlisted the help of Los Angeles-based TicketBust.com to challenge the citation. She won her court case and had the ticket dismissed, but she has yet to receive the money she paid for the ticket in the first place.
"I have not gotten a cent, and I call and get these recordings where you’re not allowed to leave a message, or they tell you to go to Norwalk," said Moussa, who doesn't understand why a Beverly Hills resident like herself would deal with a ticket at the Norwalk Courthouse about 30 miles away.
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Moussa provided documentation to NBC4 from her courthouse visits and conversations she logged with courthouse employees.
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"I went (to the courthouse) and they told me all kinds of things, (to) call back, I got no information," she said.
Moussa’s ticket does not display in an online search of her driving record, she said.
Officials from TicketBust.com also tried to help her get her money back since the dismissal.
"We have attempted on several occasions to request the court to refund her bail as required by law," Steve Miller, the website’s president and CEO, said in a statement to NBC4. "We have contested over 100,000 tickets in California over the last year, and although we are not surprised by the delays imposed by many of the courthouses, we are surprised that they would not issue Ms. Moussa’s refund to date."
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The LA Superior County Courthouse responded to NBC4 with questions regarding Moussa’s case but could not answer why she did not receive the refund.
"I’ve tried everything I know what to do being one person," Moussa said. "I slipped through the cracks somewhere. Somebody is running around with my $489."
