WILLOUGHBY HILLS, Ohio — It’s been 10 months since the Willoughby Hills Police Department deployed its portable photo enforcement unit on I-90 and I-271.

After years of research, ODOT discovered patterns of speeding on I-90 and I-271; therefore, the Willoughby Hills portable radar has been applied for 10 months.

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However, some drivers told News 5 that their citations sent by Jenoptik, the company Willoughby Hills distributes citations, were not arriving on time, costing them hundreds of dollars in fines they said they had no idea about.

Tracy Kurinsky is beside herself.

“It’s just crazy,” Kurinsky said. “I just received them a week and a half ago.”

Kurinsky said she received four citations for speeding in Willoughby Hills in the mail in one week, all from handheld speed camera catches going back months.

“These dates are crazy,” Kurinsky said.

Kurinsky’s first ticket is dated August 28, now with late fees added.

“Because it was an unpaid document, I would have received it before, but I never received it,” Kurinsky said.

His second post was dated September 26, the third was October 8, and the fourth was October 17. Kurinsky said she received all four tickets in the mail the week of October 28.

“They’re so far apart,” Kurinsky said. “Here’s the thing, I would have gotten one ticket; I wouldn’t have gotten the rest, but you gave me all the tickets at once.”

“What does this mean financially to you?” asked News 5’s Bryn Caswell. “Over $800.”

Caswell brought Kurinsky’s gigs directly to Willoughby Hills Police Chief Mat Naegele.

“I’m not discounting the fact that you may have received the ticket late, but the fact is they mail it, and maybe you didn’t see it in the mail when the first notice came in. There is no way for us to legitimize it one way or another,” Naegele said.

In the first 10 months of operation of the portable speed enforcement units, Naegele says 36,000 citations were mailed, of which 3,700 were repeat offenders. He said he has met with only about a dozen people who wanted to challenge their offenses, like Kurinsky.

“It’s about compliance; trying to get high speeds here, not trying to stick to people in any sense of that word,” Naegele said.

The company that Willoughby Hills police pay to legitimize and distribute speeding citations by mail is Jenoptik. News 5 contacted a company spokesperson about U.S. postal delays increasing speeding fines for drivers, but none of the questions were answered; instead we were told to speak to the police department.

“We’ve been faced with situations where every now and then things come up and you do your best to give the benefit of the doubt to the driver himself,” Naegele said. “If this becomes a bigger problem, that’s something we’ll definitely have to look at.”

This answer is not enough for Kurinsky, who is now trying to find a third job to make ends meet.

“I’m already trying to rebuild my credit,” Kurinsky said. “He’s already raised it, and if everything is thrown at it, he’ll drop it because it’s over $800.”

Naegele said he was working with Kurinsky to find a solution, possibly waiving his $25 hearing fee per citation. The city of Willoughby Hills has generated more than $2 million in the last 10 months since the implementation of the portable speed cameras.

If you have been involved in a similar situation, email Bryn Caswell at [email protected]