SAN DIEGO — A former SANDAG executive alleges toll system errors on the South Bay Expressway and mishandling of customers’ toll service accounts in a lawsuit filed Friday by attorney Josh D. Gruenberg.
Lauren Warrem, former Director of Finance and Accounting at SANDAG, says she was fired in retaliation for concerns she was raising about systemic issues with the new toll operation system for the 10-mile stretch of State Route 125.
“At one point during a meeting, I had heard there were 3100 bugs identified in the system,” said Warrem.
While working with a team of consultants and accounting staff in September, she says they began noticing inconsistencies with the toll road system software known as ETAN.
“It was at that time that I started making complaints, I felt like I wasn’t being heard, that I wasn’t being listened to. That’s not what they wanted to hear,” said Warrem.
The lawsuit states, “Examples of these errors include money being deposited into the wrong account or an incorrect account being charged.”
“If a customer’s credit card was charged, those funds would go to somebody else’s or wrong customer toll account,” explained Warrem. “Or if a customer had driven through the SR-125 toll road, those funds would not be deducted from their account because they had a zero balance. The system would look to another toll account and deduct it from an unrelated toll account as well.”
According to SANDAG, the total number of trips on SR-125 every year ranges between 15 and 17 million. The lawsuit states Warrem “believes there may be errors in up to 45,000 customer accounts.”
“I felt the system really should’ve been disclosed and shut down because if we cannot get those customer funds in the correct accounts, to me it’s almost criminal that we are continuing to operate the system knowing this,” said Warrem. I felt wrongly terminated. It was very concerning that we, that SANDAG was misallocating customers’ funds, I mean those were personal funds.”
A statement from SANDAG CEO Hasan Ikhrata says, “We are not able to comment on personnel matters or possible litigation. Regarding the remaining questions, management has advised our auditors and the Board that there are concerns with the new operational system on the SR 125 and are taking active steps to address these matters.”
Warrem was paid an annual salary of $243,762 and is seeking damages in part for loss of wages and benefits.
WATCH RELATED: Auditor to present findings after SANDAG loses $1.8M in SR-125 toll revenue