Website selling fake handicapped parking permits is shut down

Dan Kulin

Friday, Oct. 10, 2003 | 11:33 a.m.

Thanks to the fine print, state authorities couldn't shut down a website that sold fake Nevada handicapped parking permits, but the Internet service provider could and did.

Nevada Handicap Services was selling "Handicap Hang Tags" for $39.99 each through its website www.nevadahandicapservices.com until Thursday afternoon.

Joel Otterstrom, owner of the Internet service provider company MyTechSupport in Provo, Utah, said he had the website shut down around 3 p.m. Thursday after confirming that the handicap parking permits being sold were fakes.

Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman Tom Jacobs said Otterstrom called him with concerns about the website.

"We said although there was legally nothing we could do, because if you drilled deep enough in the fine print on the website it said it was not legal, and there was no state seal on it," Jacobs said. Then Otterstrom volunteered to remove it from the web.

Ossterstrom said, "Just because he can't do anything doesn't mean I can't." He added that he didn't want to be involved with a company that put out such material.

Jacobs said the fake permits, made to hang as placards from a rear-view mirror, were legal because they said they were not real handicapped-parking permits. He said the fakes did have many similarities to the real permits, however.

"They are the same color, shape and size," Jacobs said. Both also have the same handicapped symbol, a figure sitting in a wheelchair, and the identification numbers and expiration date look somewhat similar, he said.

"On the website there's all this language that says it's illegal but they look as thought they're valid," Jacobs said. "There's only two markets for this, one is the unwary and the other is those who want to deceive."

The fake permit does not have the state seal on it. If it did it would be illegal, Jacobs said.

Valid handicapped parking permits can only be obtained from DMV. To obtain a handicapped permit a licensed physician must attest to an individual's disability, and the patient must have at least one of the following conditions: inability to walk 200 feet without stopping to rest; inability to walk without the use of a brace, cane, crutch, wheelchair, or other device, or another person; lung disease; reliance on portable oxygen; certain heart conditions; a visual handicap; or severe limitations in their ability to walk because of an arthritic, neurological, or orthopedic condition.

Otterstrom and Jacobs said the company selling the fake permits is run by a Carey Kramer. Telephone messages left on Kramer's telephone this morning were not returned.

The Nevada Secretary of State's Office lists a Carey Cramer as the resident agent for Nevada Handicap Services. Attempts to reach a Carey Cramer with that spelling of the last name were unsuccessful.

Jacob said that within the last week or so about six people have called the DMV to complain about the Web site. He said this is the first time he's heard of fake handicap parking permits being for sale over the Internet, although he said he has known of fakes to be sold at flea markets.

Otterstrom said a California woman contacted him by e-mail this week to complain about Nevada Handicap Services.

Otterstrom said three orders were placed for the handicap hang tags.

Also, he said his company is owed $110 for setting up and hosting the website.