Santa Cruz Police:Volunteer did not target person with parking tickets

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) After social media claims that a volunteer targeted a community member with parking tickets, Santa Cruz police said they launched an investigation.

The department said a post claimed that the volunteer was targeting a specific person, but they found no evidence to support it.

Police said they found through the DMV that the alleged victim was the registered owner of three vehicles, and they were able to get information about parking citations for the vehicles.

Since January, police said two of the vehicles had received four tickets each, but they were issued by several different people in different places and for various violations. Police said the accused volunteer only issued one of the eight total tickets, and that is out of the 117 parking tickets issued by the volunteer since January.

As a result of the investigation, police said they found that the claims were false.

"Our Volunteer has been working hard and serving the community. Unfortunately, people posted and shared untrue information," the department said in a statement.

Police said they respond to about 2,200 to 2,500 complaints about vehicle violations each year.