DU Lawyers, Help me Out?

[NeedleCast]

The situation: Recently while going through a pretty routine background screen for a job (which I ended up not taking) the employer discovered I had a warrent out for my arrest. They didn't freak out about it, but asked for further information, so I did some research. Turns out that I wrote a hot check...in 1997. The check was written on an account I closed shortly afterwards. I had just joined the military and switched from my local po-dunk bank to a large national chain under the idea that since I would be bouncing all over for awhile, it might be a good idea to have a "big" bank. For whatever reason, the check (for $17.26) took eight days to clear, and by that time I had closed the old account, so the check bounced.

I never knew this. I left for the military. Served five years, plus an extra, bonus recall year. Got out, moved the the DC area, worked in the defense industry, then the federal contracting sector, then for non-profits...etc etc. Fast forward to summer of 2008.

According to the Texas AGs office (where I had lived when the check was written), the check bounced in mid November of 1997. In early 1998, a noticed (but not a warrent) was mailed to my old address and returned (as I no longer lived there and had no forwarding address). Again, for reasons unknown, 10 years later, in late 2007, a warrent was issued on a 17 dollar check I wrote ten years earlier. I'm not claiming it didn't happen, it just seems an unusual progression to me. I could have gotten pulled over for having a tail light out and been arrested.

Is there any sort of statue of limition on this sort of thing? I dug around in the Texas penal code but I don't even know if I'm looking in the right place.

[crispini]

1. What? Dang!

Holy cow. That's bizarre. I'd definitely look into it, because if they get the chance, they will throw you in the clink for this. A friend of mine got her identity stolen, the thief wrote hot checks, so they came and got my friend and she spent the WEEKEND in jail for something she DID NOT DO. She was quite calm about the whole thing, though. I suppose if you know you didn't do it and could clear it up it would help, but shit, the WEEKEND? Damn.

[NeedleCast]

2. I don't mind at all paying the check, you know

even the overdraft, although if it takes 8 days for a check to clear I kinda think this is on the institution I wrote the check to (a grocery store which has gone out of business). I've seen a copy of the check, I have no doubt I wrote it. Still the date of the check is the 12th of Novemeber, it was passed to the bank on the 19th of November and I closed the account of the 18th...of course.

The problem is I have to jump through several annoying hoops to clear the warrent now, considering the fact that I live no where near Texas. I have to pay the check, plus a fee, plus 72 dollars to take a correspondance class on writing hot checks, send it back to the class maker in Texas, who will issue me a certificate that I completed it, which I then have to send to the Texas AGs office...

[crispini]

4. They have a hot check class? Dang.

Like a driver's ed class, only for hot checks? what the hell do they do, say "Don't do it!" Maybe they teach you how to balance your checkbook? That's hysterical! Ok, not funny to you, I know, and sorry about the mess. Good luck.

[NeedleCast]

11. Yeah, I saw some of it online, it's insane

They had some sample questions and they're like "What is your environment, do you think people who write hot checks have a criminal mind..." really strange stuff.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

3. Well, first off, I'm glad to see TX is just as ridiculous as NJ about this sort of thing

I don't know if there's any sort of statute of limitation. I'd probably just pay the $17 and move on.

[flvegan]

5. In Texas, the SOL is 5 years I think. Thing is, the SOL doesn't apply to warrants.

AFAIK, the warrant still stands. You can surrender to the warrant and the judge will likely toss the case on the grounds that the SOL has expired. Call the court that has jurisdiction and ask them. Then, talk to a lawyer if need be.

My experience on the SOL and warrants is Florida based, so YMMV.

[MrCoffee]

7. This is mostly correct...who'd have thunk it?

It's a 2 year SOL on misdemeanors (passing a "bad" check is a Class C misdemeanor), but the warrant is still valid.

Call the court where the warrant issued and find out what's up.

[flvegan]

9. woo hoo!

[NeedleCast]

12. I probably would if I were still in Texas

Being in Virginia now, it makes it nearly impossible to fix this, which I guess is sort of what they hope for.

[crispini]

6. If it happened to be Dallas county, let me know.

I do know lots of lawyers and judges down here. Side effect of being a precinct chair.

[NeedleCast]

13. Austin, unfortunatly, but thanks!

[MajorChode]

8. Sometimes the SOL doesn't apply if you leave the state

It depends on the state and even though I live in Texas, I'm not that familiar with the law. In almost every state there are conditions by which the SOL clock can be stopped.

One time I did find out I had a 5 year old warrant due to an identity theft issue. I just contacted the DA's office in the area and it was a fairly simple matter to rectify and I never felt I needed a lawyer.

The AG is much more concerned with obtaining compensation for the business owner than they are about putting you in jail. Chances are that if you are willing to send the AG a check, they are not going to seek prosecution. If it were me, I would simply call the AG's office, tell them I live out of state, and ask if there is a way I could mail in a cashier's check and get the warrant canceled. Expect to pay legal fees and penalties that are well over and above the amount of the original check. I wouldn't admit guilt or offer any unsolicited story that they probably aren't going to believe anyway. You don't really need a lawyer for those types of issues, but if it makes you feel any better you should seek out one that operates inside Austin.

Greg Abbott is a Republican that I don't agree with all the time, but as far as Republicans go, he's definitely an improvement over John Corny in the AG position. I would expect his office to be pretty reasonable.

[NeedleCast]

14. I've already gone that far, see post 2

It's not really the fees and check that worry me, its taking this silly correspondance class. They people that produce the class mail it to me, I read it and answer questions. Then I have to mail it back to them. After "grading" it, they mail me a certificate of completion. Then I mail the certificate back to the AGs office. As it requires dealing with multiple state gov agencies, I feel like the chance of making this happen correctly, in a timely manner, is about the same as snowball in hell.

[MajorChode]

15. I have no idea if you have spoken to them, or that's just what they mailed you

However, keep in mind that such things are always negotiable.

The state of Texas has a lot of hoops they want you to jump through if you get a speeding ticket also, but I never go through that. As their primary interest is getting money out of you, you can almost always negotiate with them on that basis.

I would try negotiating with them myself first, and if that failed and I didn't want to jump through their hoops, I would retain a local attorney. If it gets to that point, I can almost guarantee that you can get out of the correspondence class so long as you are willing to pony up a few dollars. The state of Texas is not very serious about making you do that and the only thing they have on their side is bluff. If they see you are serious about fighting it, they will cave immediately so long as their monetary interests are satisfied. That's the way "Texas justice" works as well as in many other states. I doubt a local attorney would cost you any more than $100. For them it's a 5 minute phone call just like it would be if you negotiated yourself, but the AG office is going to take a local attorney more seriously.

[NeedleCast]

16. Thanks, I'll give it a shot

My primary intrest here is getting the warrent dismissed sooner rather than later. I don't really know how it works since I'm in Virginia but I'm worried that if I get pulled over for a traffic violation of some sort I'll end up in jail, although I've had my ID run by the cops once since the warrent was issues and apparently it didn't come up in Virginia. With all this correspondance course stuff, I figure it'll take a week to get the class, several days for it to get back to Texas and graded, several days for them to mail me the certificate, time for me to mail it back to the AGs office and for them to process it.

Think I'll go make sure all the lights on my car are working...

[MajorChode]

18. Most states won't arrest you for out of state misdemeanor warrants

However it most certainly can happen. The reason why they won't arrest you is because the chances of Texas agreeing to extradite you from Virgina over a hot check are pretty much nil.

Still as you are finding out it's a royal pain in the ass when something like that is hanging over your head. I know the feeling and it sucks.

[Bake]

10. In the words of Johnny Cash:

You don't go writin' hot checks down in Mississippi
And there ain't no good chain gang!

Bake

[NewJeffCT]

17. Yes, there is most likely a statute of limitations

Most likely, the oustanding debt and the default notice were sold to some collection agency (along with hundreds of other similar debts/defaults that are years past due... sold for pennies on the dollar) and the collection agency is trying to get you to pay. They are hoping that enough people will pay to make it worth their purchase of all these outstanding debts.

I am almost positive you do not have to pay, but Texas is strange and I am not a lawyer. However, this has come up several times on Clark Howard (a consumer guru) and he usually knows what to do, or his staff can tell you.

[DarkTirade]

19. Almost that exact same thing happened to a coworker of mine at my last job.

Stupid little check. Account closed before it went through. He never got the notice that it bounced. Years later he gets stopped for something unrelated, cops run his ID and find a warrant for his arrest. Now he's on probation and if he does ANYTHING wrong he's going to go to jail. Because of a little 10 dollar check from five or six years ago.

Of course, he had a craptastic public defender when he went to court for it. I'm sure any halfway decent lawyer could get you off.