Three San Francisco residents were arrested and charged with supplying fake documents to the state in order to receive disabled parking placards, according to reports.
The San Francisco District Attorney's Office announced Monday that Guobin Qin, 29, Qiaoyun Chen, 50, and Yessi Morales, 35, could all be imprisoned for four years for their alleged parts in the attempted scam.
Abuse of disabled parking permits -- which allow a motorist to park in a metered spot indefinitely -- is "a hot topic" in San Francisco, where there are twice as many disabled placards as there are parking spots, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The would-be scammers gave the state documents purportedly signed by a doctor who stated that they suffered from "a lung disease," the newspaper reported. The doctor, however, had no records of ever seeing the "patients."
A tipster anonymously reported the alleged schemers to the DMV, the newspaper reported.
Scammers being possibly charged with serious crimes is seen as a step toward highlighting the issue, the newspaper reported.
