South City woman gets KIA stolen, ordered to pay suspect’s parking ticket until a News 4 investigation

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) - News 4 getting results after a St. Louis woman got her KIA stolen and was ordered to pay for an illegal parking ticket the suspect was responsible for.

“Totally surprised. I guess when the thieves left my vehicle they didn’t park it properly and so now I have the consequences of getting a ticket,” says victim, Crystal Howard.

Howard’s 2020 Kia Seoul was taken in South City and abandoned on a side street in Dellwood.

Despite filing a police report with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, there was a hiccup. The grand theft auto information did not appear in the North County’s Co-op’s database until 12 hours later.

“The notification process for stolen vehicles is pretty spot on. It’s about a 99.9% success rate on how we message other law enforcement jurisdictions,” says Major Ron Martin of North County Co-Operative Police Department.

However, when a North County Co-Op officer found Howard’s vehicle illegally parked and abandoned, the car was given a ticket and the payment was forwarded to her home.

“It’s just not fair. We’ve been through enough as a Kia owner,” says Howard. “Being a Kia owner, you already feel like a victim.”

In April, Howard was summoned to appear in court and pay for the violation that happened while her car was stolen.

“When the license plate was ran it did not return a stolen vehicle to our officer and that’s why it was issued a ticket,” says Martin.

Following the News 4 investigation the ticket will be thrown out and Howard will no longer have to go to court.

“Fortunately for me, getting News 4 involved helped,” she says.

“She doesn’t have to worry about it. We’re going to get it taken care of,” Major Martin says.

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