BALDWINSVILLE, N.Y. -- About twice a month, Gay Breed heads to the Cayuga Indian Nation to buy cheap cartons of cigarettes.
On the way home from her latest trip, she was pulled over by a state trooper for a traffic violation, and told him where she was coming from.
"He said may I see what you bought at the reservation, I said 'yes sir', gave them to him, he said I had five, and that was against the law, and he let me drive to the station and he arrested me there" said Breed.
It's a situation anyone could be in. You get pulled over for a traffic violation, and end up being charged with a crime you had no idea you committed. Our Katie Morse has one woman's story.
It turns out that purchasing more than two tax-free cartons of cigarettes is illegal, unless you pay the state back for the taxes.
Breed had never heard of the law, and says most of the people she spoke with hadn't either.
"A lot of my friends are like jeepers, I never knew that. I've brought home more than two before," she said.
State Police charged Breed with misdemeanor tax evasion charge. According to published reports, she could face a $10,000 fine and a year in county jail for violating this little-known law. She says if she had known, she would have done things differently.
"I would go twice a week instead of once a week or something like that. Go more often. But with gas, I've been going about every 20 days or so," she said.
Breed says her mistake should be an eye opener for other people buying cigarettes.
"Absolutely. Because I think a lot of people do it and think that you just can....It doesn't feel like you're breaking a law cause you don't know it."
Breed says she went back to the store on the Cayuga Indian Nation, and the people there told her they didn't know about the law.
She will appear in court early next week.