Rosco O'Neal, a 78-year-old great-grandfather, drove to the Winn-Dixie one recent afternoon for a couple of steaks. He got the steaks but walked straight into a county sting operation that left him with a $1,010 fine and a minivan in the impound lot.
The charge: driving a cab without the proper permits.
O'Neal got caught up in one of 124 sting operations conducted by Miami-Dade's Consumer Services Department in the past year, the purpose of which, the county says, is to enforce consumer protection laws and business regulations.
He was charged with violating sections of the Miami-Dade County Code that require a special license and chauffeur's registration for anyone using a for-hire motor vehicle on county streets.
''Yes, he's 78, and he may be trying to make an extra buck, but we have to think of public safety,'' said CSD spokeswoman Sonya Perez. Drivers must have ``proper background, valid licenses and insurance.''
THE SET-UP
Here's how it went down, according to O'Neal and Perez:
As O'Neal walked toward the store, a woman at the entrance asked if he ``knew anyone who provided transportation.''
''If you're still here when I get out, I'll take you,'' he told her.
''How much are you going to charge me?'' she asked.
''Whatever you want to give me,'' O'Neal said, and went to do his shopping.
She was Betty Rivera, a data entry clerk for the Miami-Dade County Consumer Services Department, working undercover this day.
She was there when he came out. So were three CSD enforcement agents, watching from a distance. A Miami-Dade police officer was nearby.
According to O'Neal, Rivera approached him and spoke first: ''Hey, did you forget me?'' she asked. ''Yes, I sure did,'' he said.
According to Rivera and the CSD officers, he approached her: ''Are you ready?'' he asked. ''Yes,'' she said.
Both agree she then asked how much he was going to charge her. ''Six dollars,'' he said at last.
There was no conversation during the ride, and she got out very quickly.
''I turned right around, back on 27th,'' he said. ``I got as far as -- I can't think of the name half the time -- McDonald's. Then I saw the lights blinking and pulled over.''
O'Neal had gone down.
Department rules prevent Rivera from commenting for this article. Statements attributed to her are taken from her testimony at an administrative hearing for probable cause.
In a follow-up e-mail, Perez, the CSO spokeswoman, added: ``While we are concerned for the welfare of the general public, we are also looking out for the well-being of Mr. O'Neal. It's very risky business to allow strangers into his vehicle. Not to mention any liabilities he might be subject to if a passenger in his vehicle is injured.''
The ''gypsy cab'' phenomenon is big in South Florida. Dan McCarthy, president of the Broward Alliance of Cab Drivers, estimates there are a few hundred unregistered drivers in that county. Diego Feliciano, president of the South Florida Taxi Cab Association, says Miami-Dade has its own problems, particularly in Homestead and Opa-locka. Drivers of gypsy cabs don't pay the insurance premiums and licensing fees that registered drivers must. With lower overhead, they can afford to undercut the registered drivers.
''It's a public safety issue, among others things,'' Feliciano said. Registered vehicles must pass safety inspections, and drivers must pass background checks. ``When you get into one of these unregistered vehicles, you don't know any of that.''
STRANDED
''How am I going to get home?'' O'Neal asked, standing out on the side of the road with the CSD agents while his red 2002 Dodge Caravan was on the way to the impound lot.
The agents offered to call him a legal taxi, but O'Neal didn't have money for the fare. Instead he called his niece, and they waited with him until she arrived.
O'Neal didn't happen to have $1,010 handy on his person, or at all. He's pretty sure he spent his $6 at the dollar store. On what, he doesn't remember.
He and his wife get by on Social Security and the $100 a week he gets for taking care of another retiree's house.
His boss eventually paid the fine, but by then $419 in storage charges had accrued.
That might have been the end of the story -- except O'Neal's boss is a retired lawyer with connections. A lawyer named Ellen Novoseletsky has taken his case pro bono and intends to fight the CSD fine before a county hearing officer, using an entrapment defense. The law was being misapplied, she said.
'It basically sends the message, `Don't ever help anyone.' ''
If you have a story idea, e-mail nspangler@MiamiHerald.com
