"It blows my mind that children can go out and kill someone. They shouldn't know how to get guns. They shouldn't know about temporary tags," Nick Elizalde's mother Meredith tells Inside Edition.
Paper license plates are supposed to be sold and used short term with the purchase of a new vehicle. However, Streetsblog NYC journalist Gersh Kuntzman says some dealers are making millions, issuing them illegally to criminals.
"Fake number, fake VIN number. So if I put [a paper plate] on a car, it's a ghost car," Kuntzman tells Inside Edition. "The craziest thing about people who drive around with temporary tags is some of them do commit crimes, heinous crimes."
Police say a group of teens who allegedly shot and killed 14-year-old Nick Elizalde at a high school football game in Philadelphia used ghost tags on their getaway car.
"There were over 60 shots and I just couldn't get to him in time," Nick's mother Meredith tells Inside Edition.
Meredith was there when the shots rang out. She says she ran so hard she tore her hamstring trying to reach her son.
"I run up and laid down next to him. I knew he was gone but I got to hold him until we got to the hospital," Meredith says. "He's still making a difference. I'm not romanticizing him in his death. He's always in a good mood, he's always smiling, he's always laughing. He's just light and kindness."
Through surveillance footage, police were able to identify the suspects who now await trial.
Now, Meredith is fighting for change.
"I keep Nick alive here by fighting. It blows my mind that children can go out and kill someone. They shouldn't know how to get guns. They shouldn't know about temporary tags," Meredith says.
So where do some ghost plates come from? Inside Edition visited a barbed-wire protected facility in southern New Jersey. A sign outside displayed the names of hundreds of dealerships supposedly located at the site, but there were hardly any cars in sight.
The property's landlord tells Inside Edition that around 615 companies were listed and that the cars were in a lot behind the facility.
An Inside Edition drone that checked the back of the facility found hardly any cars.
Kuntzman says some of those dealers are selling illegal temporary tags.
"This location is ostensibly a sham location that New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission refuses to shut down," Kuntzman says.
The landlord, Auto Dealer Management Services (“ADMS”), denies any wrongdoing. In a letter to Inside Edition, ADMS says they lease “space to persons who wish to obtain a New Jersey used motor vehicle dealer license and, to the extent a proposed tenant require assistance in properly applying for licensure, ADMS will assist. All tenants sign a lease which requires they comply with the laws, rules, and regulations of the State of New Jersey. On any occasion where ADMS learns a tenant has acted in a manner which requires a revocation of their license, ADMS has immediately moved to evict them through the legal process. ADMS is hopeful your report will disclose to your viewers the swift, necessary, and sweeping measures taken by the State Legislature, and enacted into law by Governor [Phil] Murphy in January 2024, to empower the Motor Vehicle Commission to properly address the issue of unlawful temporary registrations.”
How easy is it to turn a vehicle into an untraceable ghost car?
Inside Edition found an ad on Craigslist for temporary tags. Inside Edition responded and met the seller in Brooklyn.
After giving the seller $280, Inside Edition tried to ask him questions.
When Inside Edition’s Chief Investigative Correspondent Lisa Guerrero revealed who she was and told the seller that he sold them a fake license, he responded, "Wonderful. Okay."
After Guerrero asked if he knew that selling fake plates was illegal, he said: “I don’t know. I don’t anything,” and he walked away.
"The pain is too much to bear. We shouldn't have to be dealing with ridiculous loopholes that are a slap in the face on top of it," Meredith says. "The fact that our leadership just allows these things to continue, it's maddening."
The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission recently announced a crackdown on ghost cars, saying they were adding enhanced security features to make temporary tags harder to forge. They declined to comment on Inside Edition's report.
