FORT LEE -- The operator and the owner of a tractor trailer were arrested Tuesday after authorities spotted the vehicle passing through a toll without paying, Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo said in a release.

Port Authority police stopped the red Freightliner around 9 a.m. after it passed through an EZ Pass lane on the upper deck and the toll indicator read "toll unpaid." The driver, Francisco D. Reyes-Rodriguez, 37, of New London, Ct., handed police a Connecticut license and a Florida registration for a 2006 truck.

Sgt. Mike Barry responded to the scene and discovered that the front license plate was a fake made out of plastic and that the insurance card was also false, police said. The truck also lacked an EZ Pass transponder, while a plate inside the door bearing the truck's vehicle identification number had been removed and replaced with a fake, police also said.

After Reyes-Rodriguez was arrested, police called the owner, 36-year-old Jean Lafortune of Lake Worth, Fla., to pick up the truck. Lafortune arrived in another tractor trailer which also had the same license plate number and VIN as the first vehicle, authorities said. Lafortune allegedly admitted altering the VINs on both vehicles to avoid toll charges and registration and insurance fees. Authorities estimate about the scheme resulted in about $6,000 of unpaid tolls.

Reyes-Rodriguez has been charged with theft of EZ Pass services, using a fraudulent license plate, toll evasion and traffic violations. Lafortune has been charged with forgery of VIN, theft of service, use of a counterfeit license plate, use of a fraudulent insurance card, having an uninsured vehicle and traffic violations.

Both trucks were impounded.

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. Find NJ.com on Facebook.