Need phony car license tags or insurance cards? The Tag Man’s got you, cops say
Need a fake license tag for your car? Or an insurance card, even though you don’t have insurance? In Boynton Beach, cops say, you could call “The Tag Man” and get yourself straight for $160.
Boynton Beach police say “The Tag Man” also answers to Fedelin Pericles, 36.
After Wednesday’s arrest, he is charged with three counts each of possession counterfeit license plates, fraud by falsifying public or court record, fraud by uttering a false instrument, fraud by obtaining property under $20,000, and driving on a suspended license, third offense or greater.
He remains in Palm Beach County Jail on $18,000 bond.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a source told police that “The Tag Man” could hook them up with fake tags for $60. “The Tag Man’s” phone number, a 932 exchange in the 561 area code, was registered to Pericles. And when an undercover officer texted Pericles, he said the counterfeiter needed “VIN numbers, color of car and make of car.”
The affidavit says they met the next day, Jan. 31. Pericles and his gold 1996 Ford Taurus rolled into the Lowe’s parking lot around 4 p.m. for a scheduled 2:30 p.m. meeting.
His lateness didn’t alter the transaction — $60 from a Boynton Beach undercover police officer and a Florida temporary tag of CKH8455 expiring March 3. Pericles let the undercover officer know he did insurance cards, too.
On Feb. 1, cops sent Pericles text messages giving him the information for an ersatz insurance card. The affidavit says he showed up at the Lowe’s parking lot in the gold Taurus again, but was wary — he wouldn’t hand over the insurance card Ocean Harbor Casualty Insurance Company until the undercover cop from Feb. 1 called the undercover from Jan. 31.
Once Pericles saw them talking and was satisfied, the affidavit said, he put the card on wooden pallets at the southwest corner of Lowe’s lot and took the cop’s $100.
An undercover cop repeated the buy pattern for the paper tags on Feb. 7, getting Florida temporary tag CBM5167, expiring on March 8.
Cops say all three encounters are preserved on video.
