PITTSBURGH — A man is accused of recently charging people to park in a lot that he didn’t own on Pittsburgh’s Northside. And, police say this isn’t the first time he’s offered up parking spots that weren’t his.
“I was impressed because he had a sign, and it said $50 to park,” Steve Nowak told Channel 11.
Nowak is talking about a man who was dressed in an orange vest, with a terrible towel hanging out his back pocket. He was also holding a sign that read “$50 for parking” on Fulton Street in the Northside.
Nowak is the manager of the company that uses the lot.
“It was pretty official looking. He had a red vest on, so he looked official. He was waving people in with a flag,” Nowak said.
Pittsburgh Police tell Channel 11 that the man’s name is Alphonso Rattliff, and he made almost $1,200 this past Sunday by charging nearly two dozen cars $50 to park in a lot that doesn’t belong to him. He allegedly cut the locks to the lot’s gates so he could let cars in.
According to investigators, some of the car owners paid him through Apple Pay.
“It’s pretty entrepreneurial right? To just pick up a lot that doesn’t get used,” Nowak said.
Police told the owner of the lot that he could have every car towed.
“[We] opted to not do that because the people who parked there are pretty innocent, and they thought they were just coming to park for the game,” Nowak said.
With the parking, came tailgating too.
“It frustrates me because they typically leave the lot a mess, so I have to come in on Monday mornings. There was garbage bags I had to clean up,” he said.
It’s not the first time Rattliff is accused of selling parking spots that don’t belong to him — almost one year ago to the day, he was arrested for the same thing.
Now — there’s another warrant for the same crime.
“It kind of takes some intestinal fortitude to be out there and waving someone into a lot you don’t own. When you don’t know who could drive by… it could have been the owner, the owner might not be as gracious,” Nowak said.
Nowak says that before the next Steelers home game, they’ll be making security changes so no one can park in the lot.
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