Penalty payment proffered in pennies

Charlie Prosser walked into the Salt Lake City Justice Court last week with enough money to pay his $150 parking fine.

But cashier supervisor Brooke Gilmore wouldn't accept his payment — 15,000 pennies divided into three paint buckets.

While barely filling one-tenth of each bucket, the pennies still had a combined weight of 78 pounds, which Prosser, a West Jordan resident, and friend Tim Fiscus took to the court at 11 a.m.

"Can I help you?" Gilmore asked.

"I'm here to pay my fine, fee and penalty," Prosser said with hopes of overturning the buckets on the cashier's desk, allowing the coins to cascade onto her counter. "Where would you like it?"

Gilmore then informed Prosser the court accepts coins as legal tender — as long as they are wrapped correctly. The court would even supply the 300 wrappers it would take to wrap all of his pennies. It turns out people have tried this before, although not in this amount, Gilmore said.

So it would have to wait until another day — Monday — when Prosser came back to the court with his $150 in pennies, this time wrapped, with his name, phone number and citation number written on each roll, as specified by the court.

The sound of paper-wrapped pennies doesn't have the same musicality as loose coins, but it was music to Prosser's ears as he overturned the two buckets containing his fine.

This time, Gilmore gladly gave Prosser a receipt for his payment.

"It's all there," she said. "Not a dollar more, not a dollar less."

According to court documents, Prosser was originally fined $20 for parking illegally near LDS Hospital July 22.

A parking enforcement officer asked him to move his car several times, which he did after the officer began writing a ticket.

However, the officer didn't give Prosser the ticket. It came in the mail later, stating he owed the city $50 — $20 for the ticket and a $30 late fee.

Prosser said he didn't know he had been cited because the officer never gave him the citation. He asked the court to take the fine back down to $20. The court complied.

That's where the story should have ended, right?