My dad got a red light ticket in the mail once.
Problem is, it wasn't him. They for some reason matched up his name to the name the car was registered to. So it was registered somewhere in LA, but since my dads name matched, they sent the ticket to him in another part of LA.
So called up the police ticketing agency and explained it. They said they would look into it, and sure enough they said there was a mistake. So they said they would go in front of a magistrate and get it cleared. It was like a $150 ticket or something like that.
So I think nothing of it. Then 2 months later, he gets a notice that this hasn't been paid. I call the police again, and they said it shows dismissed in the computer.
A month later, get another notice that it hasn't been paid. So again call the police, and they say it has been dismissed. My dad decides to go to the court to get it dismissed and the officer prints out a copy of the dismissal. He goes to court, and the court says it was dismissed.
A month later, get a collections notice from Arizona. The $150 ticket is now $700. We send them a copy of the dismissal and never heard about it again.
Makes me wonder how many people get things dismissed and still pay it.