York man arrested when he paid a ticket in pennies vows to go to jail.

Anthony Berrios, 56, of York, said he should be allowed to store his vehicle on private property. He’s refusing to pay a $300 fine and court costs after being found guilty of disorderly conduct.

(York) — Anthony Berrios had enough of getting ticket, after ticket, after ticket.

The building codes official issued him one for having an abandoned vehicle on Sept. 5, 2017. Berrios had been unemployed and couldn’t afford to insure the 2001 Dodge Caravan, so he said he got permission to store it on private property in York.

“It gets to point where you say, ‘You know what, I’m not going to pay this ticket today.’ I’m just not, you know?” Berrios said. “I think you guys are wrong this trip.”

Berrios later decided to pay the $25 ticket — in pennies. He poured the coins in the payment windows at York City Hall and ended up getting arrested and cited for disorderly conduct.

To hear Berrios tell it, he was a gentleman. Meanwhile, York City Police said he made a scene, caused an inconvenience and alarmed employees. Common Pleas Court Judge Gregory M. Snyder agreed, finding him guilty at his summary conviction appeal and imposing a $300 fine — which, with court costs, works out to almost $600.

Now, Berrios, 56, of York, said he’s not going to pay the fine. He’s vowing to go to jail instead. 

Here’s how we got here:

Berrios was cited under the Neighborhood Improvement ordinance, which seeks to promote health, safety and general welfare in the city.

The ordinance states that a junk or abandoned vehicle can’t be stored on public or private property unless it’s necessary for a business that’s permitted there.

But Berrios said he believes that people should be able to do what they want on their property. The minivan, he said, had been there for one year without any issues. He noted that there are videos on YouTube of people pouring pennies into payment windows elsewhere in the country without any problems.

He said the frustration goes beyond the one ticket. “They ticket you. They ticket you. My God, they must make millions of dollars a year, and they’re constantly crying that they’re broke,” he said. 

Berrios said he “wasn’t always law-abiding,” but has since turned his life right around. He has a 6-year-old son, a girlfriend and a house. He has a water jug where they collect change to use for getaways at the beach.

At 17, Berrios was shot when someone tried to rob him in the Bronx. He still gets abdominal pain, so it’s hard to hold down a job.

Steve Buffington, deputy director of permits, planning and zoning, said he’s never had anyone try to pay a ticket in pennies before. City Hall accepts them, he said, but requires that people go to the finance department and run them through a coin-counting machine.

“It was unfortunate,” Buffington said. “We just can’t have people coming into City Hall, creating a big scene, disrupting business and essentially assaulting one of our employees.”

District Judge Ron Haskell found Berrios guilty of disorderly conduct, according to court records. So he appealed to the York County Court of Common Pleas.

Berrios was not entitled to an attorney. The York County Public Defender’s Office only becomes involved with summary cases if a district judge had sentenced someone to jail time, or if there’s a strong possibility that will happen.

Police said he dumped the pennies on an employee’s hands.

When he got the file, Senior Deputy Prosecutor John Hamme said he wondered whether the dumping of coins itself constituted disorderly conduct.

The issue, he said, wasn’t that Berrios tried to pay in pennies. It was that he got loud and angry when the clerks asked him to clean them up.

“You empathize with these guys and try to work with them,” Hamme said. “But when you act like you do, you have to take responsibility for it.”

In 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Bearden v. Georgia that judges can’t lock people up who can’t afford to pay a fine. But they can if someone who has resources “willfully” decides not to do so.

Right now, Berrios said he’s standing his ground because he doesn’t believe he did anything wrong. 

He has one year to pay the court costs and fines.

“I started this — I’m going to finish it. If they feel putting an innocent man in jail with a bunch of drug dealers, rapists, child molesters or murderers, if they think putting me in a position like that will soothe their ego, man, do it,” he said. “But you’re not getting $600 from me.”

The $25 ticket remains unpaid. 

There’s now a $10 late fee.

This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The York Daily Record.