SSA Judge's Parking Problem

Check out the lead to this story from today's St. Petersburg Times:

Each day, administrative law judge Elving L. Torres decides whether people are disabled enough to receive Social Security benefits. Sometimes he puts himself in the shoes of people who appear before him: He parks his luxury import car in the handicapped spaces outside the building where he works.

According to the paper, Torres does have a handicapped parking placard on the dashboard of his silver Mercedes-Benz AMG coupe. But it was issued to an 86-year-old woman from Bradenton, Fla. Torres wouldn't speak to the paper, saying he wasn't allowed to talk to the media without permission. An SSA spokesman said the agency would look into the situation, adding, "if it's happening, it's got to stop."

So how did St. Pete Times reporter Bill Varian know about Torres' parking habits? It so happens that the SSA judge's office is in the same building that the newspaper occupies.