Clerk at traffic violations bureau pleads guilty to fixing tickets

Article by: RANDY FURST , Star Tribune
Updated: February 21, 2008 - 8:05 AM

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A 32-year-old clerk at Hennepin County's traffic violations bureau pleaded guilty Wednesday to fixing more than $5,000 worth of her own parking tickets.

Dawn M. Nyberg of Blaine told a judge in Hennepin County Court that she used her access to the traffic computers to delete some of her tickets, voided some by changing the license plate listed, and sometimes listed the parking meter as defective.

Her attorney, William Bulmer II, said that she accumulated the tickets while parking at meters near the county government center where she worked.

Under a plea agreement, Nyberg will serve 30 days in the Hennepin County workhouse, on alternate weekends, then be electronically monitored for up to 180 days. Two additional charges were dropped.

Nyberg will have to pay for the electronic monitoring. She also agreed to pay the fines.

Wright County Judge Jonathan Jasper was brought in to hear the case to avoid a conflict of interest because Nyberg is a Hennepin County employee. Jasper must approve the agreement. He ordered a pre-sentence investigation and scheduled sentencing for April 4 at 10 a.m.

"I think the sentence is fair," said assistant Hennepin County attorney Thomas Fabel. "She had no prior record."

Nyberg admitted to fixing 75 parking tickets between August 2005 and June 2007 although she said she was not sure of the number,

The parking fines came to $2,500, the late fees were $2,612, and the interest came to $324 for a total of $5,436, Fabel said.

Bulmer said that his client is a single mother with a 5-year-old child. He believed the crime was a "financial thing" and she regrets her actions.

"Personally, I think it is something that got out of hand. It wasn't something she planned from the start to see if she could get away with it," he said.

Randy Furst • 612-673-7382