Call Kurtis: Passport Problems and Misprints!

The government issued a child's passport in the wrong name. And when they messed it up a second time, an Oakdale mom called Kurtis to investigate.

A passport is a secured document, so how does the state department mess up twice, printing the same passport? Our viewer was afraid it would put their first family trip to Mexico in jeopardy.

Her name is Charlee, with two 'E's, but the toddler's passport showed up mispellep: Charlep, with a "p".

Mom Jessica Heryford got the passport ahead of a January trip to Mexico to celebrate her 30th bithday.

"This was supposed to be a fun, group experince," Jessica said.

The state department said they could fix the issue in time and asked Jessica to mail the passport back. She did back in October and waited for a replacement.

"When I saw that it was in the mail I was so excited," she said. "I ran out there, I got it."

Charlee's name was corrected but there was a new problem, the 17-month-old's picture was printed so faint you can barely see the nose on her face.

Jess says she the experience was gut-wrenching: not one, but two mistakes on the same passport, and little time before the trip.

"It's highly unusual for any passport to be misprinted, and to be misprinted twice in a row, that's truly a record keeping," said CBS News Travel Editor, Peter Greenberg, who says he's never heard of a misprint on a passport, but thinks it's risky to travel with one.,

"You're at the disposal - I suppose - of people who you don't know and are operating by rules you can't control," he said.

CBS13 was curious how often this sort of thing happens. The state department initially said the answer was on their website of statistics. But we couldn't find it there. They then told us "we do not publish statistics on the misprinting of passports."

We pressed for answers in Charlee's case. A spokesperson responded, "the department does not generally comment on inidividual passport applications due to privacy concners."

After putting her in contact with her congressman, Jessica was given the option to go to the passport office in San Francisco, the day before the trip, to get a reprint. But she couldn't swing that.

Chancing travelling with the passport with a poor picture and Charlee's birth certificate.

And thankfully, it worked.

The state department required Jessica to send back the second problem passport and is now working a third one.

According to Customs and Border Protection, a toddler or anyone under the age of 16 does not need a passport to got o Mexico by land or sea, just a birth certificate.

But everyone needs a passport if they are flying.