Caught Committing Fare Evasion

[alexsut65]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: CA
I was recently given a LA metro citation for fare evasion. I was freaking out when giving out my information to the citation officer and the person not only misspelled my first name, but completely wrote a last name that had no relation to what I said. I didn't bother looking at the ticket (this would be my first) at all till I got out of the station and so I'm wondering how I should deal with this. I had no ID at the time so they never verified me about my info and above all they never asked for my apartment number when I gave them my address. I plan on paying the fine but how should I list my name? Seeing how my name is listed differently under the citation, when writing a money order, should I just use the name listed under the citation? Or should I try to clarify them about my name. Truthfully I have no intent on confronting this issue and rather just want to pay the fine by mail with money order and let this be done. Would that be ok? Because I know for money orders you can just list any name on it without caring.
Also out of curiosity, what would exactly happen if I don't pay it at all as they have no real way of linking me to the citation as they didn't even ask for my number? To sum it up all the info they have on me is either lacking or misspelled. All they have is my address with no apt. number which barely counts for anything.This is just out of curiosity, I plan on paying as I rather have a clean slate record seeing how I'm barely a young adult. (aged 20)

*Reason for fare evasion dumb reason: I had one old TAP card totally forgot, then bought a new one that day. Threw away the new one by accident before confrontation with citation officer and that is it.

[Disagreeable]

Paying it under your AKA, without revealing the error is likely best. They have you on video and will likely identify you from your DL photo if you do not pay it. This way it will likely never be related to you.

[Mr. Knowitall]

A long story translating into this: you lied to the police about your name and are wondering if you can get away with it. Nobody here can promise that you won't be caught. If you pay off your fine, at least there won't be a warrant - because it's when they are actively looking for you that they're most likely to notice you committed and crime by lying about your name. And no, your "the officer made mistakes and I didn't say anything" defense isn't going to fly. You were at the station so even if you weren't formally booked they have your face on video.

Your best bet is to simply pay the fine.