Owner of offensive license plate said it was his band's name

A man from Big Lake has spent the past two days trying to clear his name after an offensive license plate that disparages Muslims was spotted last weekend in St. Cloud and linked to a pickup truck he owns.

Chad Betland, a truck aficionado, bought a gray 1987 Chevrolet from a Foley man last summer. The seller had ordered the personalized license plate that read "FMUSLMS," but didn't tell the state that he kept the collector plates when he sold the truck to Betland. So when somebody spotted a red 1990s model pickup with the insensitive plate on it over the weekend and posted a photo of it on social media, all signs pointed to Betland as being a racist.

"I am linked to being a Muslim hater. My neighbors think they have some racist living in the neighborhood," Betland, 42, said Wednesday. "It's a complete mix-up and I'm the unlucky guy who owns the truck."

It all started in June when a 20-year-old man from Foley turned in a form requesting the "FMUSLMS" plate. That driver had listed "PETALOL" and "8LUGTHG" as his second and third choices on the form that was processed June 11, 2015 at the deputy registrar's office in the central Minnesota town 15 miles from St. Cloud.

In a note in a box on the application that requires drivers to list the reason for their choices before plates can be issued, the driver, whose name was blacked out on the application released by Department of Public Safety (DPS), explained that they were "name of musical bands he is in (all 3 choices)."

A Google search Wednesday turned up no bands by any of those names.

DVS officials reviewed and approved the application for the plates registered to the 1987 pickup truck. The driver paid $135 for the plate produced by MINNCOR Industries.

The seller "had mentioned something about personalized plates, but I never thought twice about it," Betland said. "I didn't know what they said."

In the meantime, the seller had put the "FMUSLMS" plates on the pickup that was spotted in St. Cloud. A resident snapped a photo of the plate and posted it on Facebook. The image made the rounds and sparked outrage from people who demanded that DPS — which oversees the state's car registration and licensing — revoke the license plate. On Monday, the state took the plates back, according to a news release from the office of Gov. Mark Dayton.

"I am appalled that this license plate was issued by the State of Minnesota," he said in a statement. "It is offensive, and the person who requested it should be ashamed. That prejudice has no place in Minnesota."

Meanwhile Betland learned of the furor Monday night when his phone started ringing incessantly. Friends and even his mother called after seeing news reports on TV.

"I'm being accused of being a racist hater, and I had no clue about it until the texts and phone calls started," said Betland, who has been on the road for the past two weeks and traveling back to Minnesota. "I'm trying to get this whole thing cleared up not knowing what was going on. That's not the celebrity status I want to be linked to."

"This personalized license plate should never have been issued; it is offensive and distasteful," DPS said in a statement.

There are currently 98,565 personalized plates on vehicles in Minnesota, the DPS said.

Currently a number of people review each application, said DPS spokesman Bruce Gordon. Each application is reviewed by the person at the counter, DVS staff, and production staff.

"The Driver and Vehicle Services Division continues to review the process for approving personalized license plates, including the one that was brought to our attention this week," Gordon said. "While that review is underway, we have added additional review and oversight of applications."

Personal plates are available with the standard plate background and can be displayed on passenger class vehicles, one-ton pickups, motorcycles and self-propelled recreation vehicles. They can have up to seven characters that include uppercase letters, numbers, hyphens and spaces.