Willow Grove Man Had $8K In Unpaid Tolls: DA

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Four people, including a Willow Grove man, are facing theft charges in connection with more than $21,000 in unpaid tolls at Pennsylvania Turnpike entrances in Bucks County, authorities said Friday.

The drivers racked up the debts from hundreds of trips on the Turnpike over several years, according to affidavits of probable cause. The arrests mark the third round of charges filed in Bucks County as part of an ongoing effort to target Pennsylvania’s most extreme cases of turnpike nonpayment.

The four charged are:

• Christian M. Rodriguez, 41, of Willow Grove. He allegedly took 186 unpaid rides between September 2013 and April 2019, investigators found, stealing a total of $8,018.40, the Bucks County DA's office said.

• Tatyana Yarmolyuk, 37, of Green Lane. Authorities said she drove the Turnpike without paying 136 times between March 2012 and October 2018 for unpaid tolls of $5,300.56.

• Torr J. Robinson, 33, of Philadelphia. He is accused of making 252 unpaid trips between September 2013 and November 2017 worth $5,016.10. Robinson is in custody in another state awaiting extradition, authorities said.

• Shirley Chaplin-Sowell, 39, of Philadelphia. Chaplin-Sowell allegedly rode without paying 65 times between April 2017 and March 2018, earning a bill of $2,850.05. She is free on $20,000 unsecured bail.

Each of the motorists also drove the turnpike at various times with a suspended driver’s license, the affidavits allege.

"Bucks County’s turnpike interchanges are among the most frequently abused in the state. Previous cases have helped the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission recoup tens of thousands in unpaid tolls," the District Attorney's office said in a statement.