To make a long story short, I ended up going to court there 3 times, the last time with a lawyer, and I ended up splitting $1200 in fines with the owner of the car which the tickets were issued to. Apparently, somebody there ended up with my license--I had never been there before this--and they got a pile of tickets in this lady's car.
She claimed that it must have been somebody who was joyriding in her car. I thought I was off the hook the first time I went to court and met with the prosecutor when the sheriff said that I wasn't the person he gave the tickets to. I had my Passport for ID. But the small town prosecutor and judge didn't care and said I was fully responsible for any use of the document since I didn't report it missing. Basically, the lawyer told me that they didn't care who they got the money from, but they were going to get it before they let me off the hook. The lawyer was able to convince the judge to split it between us. I paid the court $600, the lawyer $250, and ate the three days I had to take off of work so that I could drive 6 hours there and 6 back each time I had to appear.
I was probably the happiest person in the world when NY finally went to photo driver licenses.
You Sirfishalot, were dealing with a criminal enterprise in a black robe. How long before enough people will believe that this empire is not worth saving?