A Reno grandmother was shocked to find herself ensnared in a sting operation at Burning Man.
Susie Holland, 61, had offered to provide revelers a ride to the annual summer art event in Black Rock Desert, Nevadaand was all set to bring a group of six Burners to the Playa for the festival last Monday.
Instead, she was accosted by agents with the Nevada Transportation Authority, the Reno Gazette Journal reports.
The agents then searched her Subaru, impounded the vehicle and told her she would likely have to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines.
She wasn't the only one, with Reno resident Michael O'Brien telling KOLO-TVthe same thing happened to him later that day. Holland claims that a total of 18 cars were towed that morning during the sting operation.
Susie Holland, 61, was shocked to find herself caught in a sting operation
Holland's story begins last year, when she rescued a friend and a few other Burners who were stuck in the muddy desert.
She said she enjoyed listening as the revelers recounted their experiences on the ride home, saying it gave her a chance to experience Burning Man without ever actually going.
'I've never been, probably will never go. It's not my kind of thing,' Holland said. 'But we were talking and [they] suggested I do it the following year, like just give rides.'
With that in mind, Holland posted an ad on Craigslist three weeks ago offering to provide rides to the Black Rock Desert.
One person responded to the ad via email, she said, and asked how much she was charging.
Holland said she did not know what the going rate was for rides to the festival, so she suggested $65 per person.
Her customer then offered her $500 including a tip, as long as Holland would come back to pick them up, and she agreed, KOLO reports.
Holland had offered to provide rides to Burning Man, the annual arts festival held in Black Rock Desert, Nevada
She said she checked with other Burners, who said she was allowed to drop off revelers outside the gates
'I figured when I picked them up, I would just let them know, it's a Burner mentality, "You don't have to give me $500. I am happy to take you out there today. Just pay for the gas, donate whatever,"' she said.
'It really wasn't about the money. It's about being able to do a little bit of the Burn without doing the Burn.'
But she did not hear back from her client for weeks, and began to get suspicious.
'You know how you get that thing in your stomach?' she asked the Gazette Journal. 'Something seemed a little off.'
She then started to do some research, and asked Burners heading off to the Playa last Sunday about providing rides to the event.
They assured her it was a normal thing that people do, saying drivers weren't allowed through the gates to Burning Man without a permit, but they could drop people off at the gate.
'I thought I was doing [my] due diligence,' the grandmother said. 'I even Googled it.
'The NTA never appeared in any of that research,' she insisted. 'I didn't know anybody that realized that they even existed.'
When she arrived to pick up the Burners who had hired her, she was startled to find undercover agents with the Nevada Transportation Authority
So she arrived at the back parking lot of the Grand Sierra Resorts at 6.30am on August 26, as she and her client had agreed upon.
But instead of meeting the carefree revelers, Holland was accosted by undercover agents with the Nevada Transportation Authority, who pulled up around her vehicle in black Fords.
'I couldn't figure out what was happening,' she recounted. 'I couldn't wrap my head around it. I'm 61 years old, you know. I've never been in a situation like this.'
She said she initially tried to turn her car around, but was blocked by some of the unmarked vehicles.
Then when she tried to move forward, agents blasted the Fords' horns and three people she described as 'tall, bald-headed dudes with big badges on their chest' started searching her car.
'I was literally in shock,' Holland said. 'That seemed like they were catching a pedophile.
'This thing was so intense, and they were so aggressive.'
The agents impounded her Subaru and told her she was facing up to $30,000 in fines
Eventually, the agents told Holland she was facing up to $30,000 in fines for not having a certification to provide rides for a fee.
Her car was then impounded, and in order to get it out, she was scheduled for a council hearing the following day.
Holland said she then tried to contact John Routsis, a Burning Man lawyer, who vowed to help her.
But he said he would help once he got back from the annual festival - meaning she was left without legal representation at her hearing.
And because she needed her vehicle to get to work, she was willing to agree to anything that would get it back.
But hers was not the only vehicle impounded that day, with Michael O'Brien saying he was caught up in the same scheme.
'If there is no food in the house, I go get money - and that's how I ended up falling for this scam,' he told KOLO. 'I thought I was going to get some money so I can have food in the house for my daughter, basically.'
O'Brien also arrived at the back parking lot of the Grand Sierra Resorts at around 9.45am and was similarly confronted by the undercover agents.
Then, when Holland went to pick up her car at City Auto Towing the next morning, she said the woman at the counter told her that 18 cars had been towed that morning from the sting.
'No one knew it was illegal to give rides to Burning Man,' she said, as some would advertise rides to the festival in a Facebook group.
Some people advertised rides to the festival in a Facebook group
The NTA would not disclose to the Gazette Journal how many people were hit in the sting operation, how long it was conducted or when it started.
But Teri Williams, a spokesperson for the the agency, said it is illegal for paid transportation drivers to operate without proper licensing or insurance.
'As a law enforcement agency, the NTA's mission is to protect the traveling public, which requires that the agency regulate certified and permitted providers, as well as take proactive measures to identify and deter unlicensed activity.
'Ultimately, people that engage in commerce of any kind must be knowledgeable about what is required to operate legally... the onus falls on the individual to be informed and in compliance,' Williams said.
The spokesperson added that under law, the agency is not allowed to just provide drivers with a warning.
Instead, agents are required to cite an individual and impound their car for noncompliance, even if it is just their first offense.
The individual would then bring their case to a hearing officer, who would decide what the punishment should be, based on factors like first time offenses and other hardships.
'The NTA takes its public safety mission seriously,' Williams said.
'The potential harm to either the driver or the passenger could be life-altering.'
Holland was just required to pay $1,000 in cash to the NTA to release her vehicle, as the hearing officer agreed to suspend many of the fees since it was just her first offense
In the end, Holland was just required to pay $1,000 in cash to the NTA to release her vehicle, as the hearing officer agreed to suspend many of the fees since it was just her first offense.
She also paid $500 to get her Subaru out of the impound lot, and she is now hoping that her story could serve as a warning to others.
'This is [the NTA's] hunting season,' she told the Gazette Journal.'They're not going to let us know that this is illegal. It doesn't behoove them in any way.'
Holland went on to admit she needs 'to be accountable for not knowing,' as she continues to fight back against the scheme.
She started an online fundraiser to help her with her legal fees and raise money to see if a lawyer could help her with her case.
As of Wednesday evening, it had garnered more than $2,000.
'Clearly, I'm just a grandma giving rides to the Burn,' Holland told the Gazette Journal.
'But they knew what they're doing,' she said of the agents with the NTA. 'We just weren't [aware]. No one was aware of it.'
