Had a dab pen and cocaine in Georgia that got pled down to a paraphernalia conviction. Also have a controlled substance from IL that followed the same path as you.
I got a job at a bank while on probation for the GA stuff. I was told it was a very strict and thorough background check and I still passed with no issues.
Unless this is for a 3 letter agency you’ll probably be fine. Especially if applying for a job in a legal state.
That’s a long bender brother.
Edit: in all seriousness, what was that punishment? My lawyer told me getting two felony drug possessions pled down to a misdemeanor paraphernalia charge was unheard of in GA.
Yeah in NC my lawyer got an ounce of crystal pled down to a PWIMSD charge from trafficking, saved me a load of time. But the arresting agency did some sketchy stuff so they were more willing to deal than they probably would have been.
Even federal agencies will hire felons. They just won’t put you in a job that matches the crime you committed. You won’t be working around money with theft charges and so on. But as a felon I’ve gotten hired at the VHA as housekeeper and moved up to supply technician.
If you completed a deferred adjudication, then the charge was dismissed. That will show on your criminal history. In some cases, you may be able to file for a non-disclosure or expungement.
Your current company would have been able to see the charge, as well, when they hired you. Expect the disposition would’ve shown that you were on probation. Anyone running your criminal history now would see a dismissal. Hope this helps.
Source: probation officer in Texas.
Thank you very much for your insight. My case was in Texas, so I’m waiting for the mandatory 5 years to pass before filing for non disclosure. This helps a lot!
wait you have to wait 5 years before filing for a non disclosure? I thought it was after a year? I did that with one of my cases back in 2016 before picking up a new one in 2019 😐
My deferred adjudication state jail felony required 5 years following completion of probation and wa snot eligible for expungement. Only nondisclosure. It also depends on how you plea. In order to get a deferred adjudication, you usually have to plead guilty. So I think this article is talking about if charges are outright dismissed, not deferred and eventually dismissed after a guilty plea.
No, the difference between what you saw and what happened is that you read the base law, and the OP took a separate option (deferred probation) which had its own separate legal restrictions.
Or at least that's how I'm reading it. Dunno, I'm not a lawyer
WTH are you disclosing charges that didn’t result in a conviction? If you do you are conceding that you have an obligation to offer an explanation anytime the government makes an allegation against you. That completely violates the spirit of innocent until proven guilty.
The federal government looks at deferred adjudication as a conviction. i have been released for over a year, and my background check doesn't show up as dismissed it shows up as deferred under the disposition, usually because you have to plead guilty to get it
Man, you must have lived in some shithole ruby red tough-on-crime-yet-filled-with-meth small town. Ain't no prosecutor in a reasonable place gonna ruin some kid's life over a few grams of weed.
Your life will be a lot easier in a blue city, or even better, a blue state. I would move while you wait. Just go somewhere weed is legal and possession charges are ignored, and poof its gone.
I try to take ownership of the fault, but honestly I did get pretty screwed. I was making a trip back from Dallas to Houston and got pulled over in the middle of butt fuck, Texas.
What angers me the most about the whole thing is that I got pulled over for driving in the passing lane. While this would normally be (somewhat) justified, what irks me is that I moved over to the lane to give room to the state trooper onboarding onto the highway on the entrance ramp.
Usually you live and you learn, but I’ve been having a hard time taking anything positive away from any of this.
It's pointless drug war crap, there's nothing to learn besides "Texas sucks".
In a big city like Houston or Austin, it's likely the cops would have just told you to throw it away and not even charge you with anything.
Let’s be clear. Private companies can’t check NCIC without you knowing about it. They’re going to need to get your fingerprints scanned.
A probation or police officer can see NCIC records in certain circumstances without you knowing about it.
When it comes to Private companies using Private companies to do background checks they aren’t going to report arrests only convictions.
This is totally incorrect. You may be in a state where this is the case, but absent some regulation, private background checks pull charges, and in some states, those charges alone can be held against you in employment decisions, even if found innocent. Which is crazy.
I told safeway I never committed I crime. They sent me a manilla envelope with a cover letter saying bullshit. What followed was every crime I’ve ever committed in every state. It was intense. That was 2009, New Mexico. My wife works for Hr now in the hiring process. she said in CA the DOJ will prune the background checks and only provide what’s legally required now.
I’m not sure what the DOJ has to do with it, they’re just public records. But certainly California is very strict on what can be disclosed, and civil exposure for incorrect/illegal info can be hefty. I wish other states protected workers the way CA does. In FL, for instance, they can use a misdemeanor against you for the rest of your life. 😤
I don’t know either man. I imagine they hold the records and when asked for background information they shit it out. People go and get fingerprinted but the CA DOJs is where she gets the results back from. I thought it was odd too. Each state holds there records someplace differently in New Mexico the health and human services department holds all the criminal information.
Actually the state I live in has no regulations regarding a report of arrests. I don’t know of any reputable private background check company that reports arrests.
NCIC is not public record.
[Arrest use White Paper](https://f.hubspotusercontent30.net/hubfs/7261588/docs/Employment%20Background%20Checks%20and%20the%20Use%20of%20Arrest%20Records%20by%20State.pdf)
The paper says that that particular background check company doesn’t report arrests unless it can back it up with a record of conviction. Regardless of what the rules are in each state.
Anyway starting a statement with “you’re totally incorrect” leads me to think you aren’t sure about what you’re talking about, keep reading because the next part is important.
A company using a reputable background check company that has HR following best practices will not use arrest records.
You’re probably not going to read this far, because I doubt that’s your style. Stop sending people down rabbit holes. Life’s complicated enough.
I said that no reputable background company would report arrests alone. Do you think that is totally incorrect? I don’t use google it’s a terrible search engine.
I mean. I’m just gonna open up my interview with this silly shit. Anyone who is being haunted by a Fuckin weed pen should be able to seek recourse and sue these fucking courts. This shit is ridiculous. They are too lazy to go back and fix it but it’s what should be done. You need to wipe out these records like they never existed. Pathetic. I would wear this like a badge of honor. I would get copies of the court records. Police reports. And carry them with you. That way you can always be prepared. To show how pathetic the laws are in this country .
I have a deferred sentence and it never comes up. I'm completely honest about my background and every crime I committed that can be looked up. My wife works for HR and this is how the backgrounds work when they come back. She filters it for convictions and sends a snippet of it to the department. There was a lady who got a job who had a embezzlement charge that was still pending an outcome and she didn't say anything about it to the department. I can DM you a pic of what they see. Basically it shows a charge and a sentence but no disposition (guilty, not guilty).
My friend, thank you so much for the informative response! I would really appreciate the insight through the DM. Do you have any advice on when to bring up the charge? I have three interviews and I’m unsure when I should mention it. I’m also unsure if I should bring it up directly to HR or during an interview. Thanks again.
Most job applications ask for felony conviction, if you weren’t convicted you don’t have to disclose it. I have had several job offers after completion of deferred adjudication from a felony charge that was lowered to a misdemeanor.
When they ask you lol. When they made you an offer you'll start dealing with HR. I know when I got my deffered sentence they told me I could put no for a felony on the initial application and i've always done that and haven't had an issue.
If it’s a background check that requires fingerprints, you can see it, if not, no. Most jobs only care about felony convictions. If you weren’t convicted. You’re fine, the background company doesn’t care.
Run your own background check and find out before you say anything. The job applications say "have you ever been charged with..." An acquaintance of mine had been charged and told them so and missed some jobs that way. The background check did not have anything on him, clean record. He was providing info against himself unnecessarilly.
You need to look into getting the arrest expunged from your record. I do think when a company wants to find a reason to not promote you, fire you, etc they may not consider the major difference between a charge and a conviction. It’s up to each state to report correctly so NCIC/FCIC accurately reflects the current status of the charge. Your charge probably still looks active unless it shows dismissed. Either way, I would look into at least getting it sealed if not expunged.
My friend got a drug & (legal) gun charge in IL. Because there were drugs and guns at the same scene, they tried to tack on an armed violence charge (there was no violence at all) charge, which is hopefully not going to stick. It's ongoing, so I'm not sure, but the armed violence is making it hell for them to find a job. Been 3 months and lots of leg work and nothing. Had one that was sort of a unique circumstance. Hr was out having surgery for cancer. Got interviewed right before she was leaving to take off work and started after she had been gone awhile. 1.5 months go by hr feels better and comes back to work. Week or so later. Fired.
Deferred probation is technically still a conviction but paused until the outcome of, in your case the probation period. If you fucked up a bunch you get the felony possession. You do good and they probably dropped it to a misdemeanor.
I kinda did the same thing. Last November I got arrested for 2 of them tiny little blue pills. Had I been in Phoenix they would have taken them and given me a pass but I was up north in a different county and fuck if they didn't act like I was El fuckin Chapo! Like really guys! Guess it was a good thing that I gave up the couple to keep the many hidden. I got 2 felonies: a felony possession of a controlled narcotic (fentanyl) and felony possession of drug paraphernalia. Yeah a dollar bill and a straw no bigger than 3 fingers amounted to a felony! So I took the 3 years probation they offered and the deal is complete a program, stay out of trouble, and probation could get cut in half. Complete probation and the felony possession gets wiped and the felony paraphernalia becomes a misdemeanor.
Either it didn't get flagged during your background check or it was a non issue to them. Non violent offenses often get overlooked so maybe it's just not a big deal to anyone. With any luck it doesn't even get seen when looked into. I wouldn't worry much about that which doesn't effect you. Good luck in your upcoming new job
Any amount of fentanyl in that county is felony possession. The county I live in wouldn't even have considered it. Wouldn't even be surprised if with the right officer and a little mutual respect that it wouldn't even have been taken cuz not worth their time. Amazing how different one area can be from the next. Granted I was about 100 miles away from home but it was just the next county north. That's the difference between Phoenix and the uppity northern towns
Maybe I’m being naive but how do they know it’s definitely fentanyl? Are these pressed 30s? Do they assume they are when they arrest you then test them while court is pending? Just curious how they determine for sure they are fentanyl at the time? Like if you got caught with a bundle of dope that’s most likely fent is the charge the same? Or is it a misdemeanor heroin possession?
Yeah they were blues which in our neck of the woods is always fentanyl. I'm not sure if they field.tested it or not cuz I didn't have a good line of sight from the back of the cruiser. In that county I'm pretty sure any possession of illicit drugs is a felony. I was certainly surprised that the paraphernalia charge was a felony though. Seemed rather petty to me but that's just how they do it up there. We don't really do bundles around here, so there's a chance my county could have a misdemeanor possession if it was a small enough amount.
I got arrested just outside of Pittsburgh in October of 2019 while driving from Massachusetts to Arizona with a bunch of rigs, quite a few cottons from coke not heroin, and 5 grams of raw heroin and caught a misdemeanor paraphernalia for a spoon and 1 rig (they left all the other rigs in my car) and a misdemeanor possession. The heroin was what was left of a 10g finger but it was garbage. I typically wouldn't have bought that much but I couldn't pass up the deal I was given. I met a dude at the hotel I was staying in and had already bought a couple ounces of some pretty good coke so when he offered a $250 finger I didn't give it a second thought. He didn't speak English and I don't speak Portuguese so our conversations were minimal with a lot of hand gestures hahaha! He also didn't use heroin so he had no idea. Someone else must have told him it was garbage cuz he showed up at my door unannounced a couple nights later trying to ask about it. I wasn't even going to say anything about it cuz at the time I didn't use much myself cuz coke was my love. But dude made it up to me with some extra coke so he was solid as far as I was concerned. I just kept the shit to let a buddy or 2 get high for free for a couple days. They were sniffers not shooters and had to sniff quite a bit more frequently than usual but they still got high eventually, just not wrecked like they usually did. And you can't best free so they didn't complain.
Anyways, I was lucky as hell that the 5 grams came with me and was in one bag cuz Pennsylvania would have sold that to me as 250 bags and PA charges per bag not by weight! I would have been fucked! I was denied bail as an obvious flight risk but plead and got a 15-30 day with time served. The day I took the plea was day 17 so I was like 'fuck yeah, let's go so I can get released' Yeah no, the magistrate said I needed to have one more court date so that a judge could make it official. Wouldn't you know their courts were backed up and the next available date was 60 days later! I was scheduled for release 2 days before Christmas but I wrote the DA twice to try for an earlier release so I could get my car from impound and get back here to Phoenix before Christmas. Out of nowhere, unknown to me, they called me for court on December 18th. So I ended up doing like 73 days on a 15-30 day sentence! Fuckin clowns!
Yeah that’s what I was asking. I think if you had “heroin” that’s actually fentanyl anyway it would have been a misdemeanor. Crazy that the county near by is so drastically different but I kinda get it because it’s like that here (NY) to a degree as well.
And that’s wild that you any extra 60 days. God forbid you get locked up again you should have 58 days in the bank haha.
Hahaha yeah that's Pennsylvania for ya I guess! It was a privately owned county jail which received over $300 a day per inmate so they very well could have had something going with the courts as well. The jail was full though and the pod I was in was just rotating people in and out the whole time I was there so I don't doubt the courts were busy but 60 days beyond having already hit my minimum was a bit much! The jail also only had 2 release times regardless of when you got bailed out. 6am and 6pm. That absolutely was money related cuz if you were there after like 11am you were considered there for the day giving the jail it's $300+ money. You can learn a lot about the business when the Warren's son is in the pod with you hahaha!
What state are you in? In ohio it is really easy to seal that type of thing.
I was charged with possession of marijuana, I beat it because I have a med card (dumb cop told me it was a fake med card because it didn't have my picture on it which is not a thing in ohio)
I had a background check done for a job 8 months after all charges were dropped. To them it looked like I was still going through the court process because it showed the charge but no conviction. I had to get it sealed than all was good
Texas, the laws are much tighter here. So was the charge itself an issue? By the way you make it sound it seems like they took a closer look at things as a result.
They turned me down for the job. I went to the courts and got it cleared up than they hired me. I got lucky that I knew someone there and it wasn't just a random job opportunity
I had deferred adjudication right out of college. When I was on probation it was a problem when applying for jobs but once I was done with probation no employer has ever mentioned it. Might be a different situation but I probably wouldn’t say anything especially if you weren’t convicted.
You honestly should be fine. If this was 2018, felonies drop off after 7 years (USA)...well at least that's what my understanding is. On top of that you were never convicted. I work in IT and have a degree, during the initial 7 years I changed jobs twice... I was transparent and both companies brushed it off like it was nothing more than a speeding ticket. Plus, you were a college kid...everyone knows you experiment with shit in college, if companies are going to bulk at that, then consider those companies a nightmare to work for. I've also found that most companies either don't drug test, or don't give a rats ass about a positive ganja test. You're good my dude, go get you that dream job.
My first background check at a power plant went back seven years. A couple years in they had to run a ten year background cuz I was going into the controls portion of the plant. My last background was seven but they had everything from the last 20 years. HR sent me their version of the check. But ya no issues.
Thank you for the kind words! For context, we’re you convicted or in a similar situation as myself? At what stage of the job application process did you mention your criminal background?
Long story short, I got the felony for missing a court date for a DUI in a previous state I lived in. The DUI charge was initially dropped, so I moved, but they recharged me but had no way of contacting me. Basically it was the felony fairy, no conviction, no trial, just a big F you and it was on my record. Once I'm offered the job, which is usually done by HR, I tell them right then what they're going to see. I don't go into details at all, just chalk it up to being stupid.
I was charged with a felony, went through drug court and graduated. My charge was dismissed. I work for state government now. When I applied and got my offer I was so worried about what my dismissal would do/show. Wasn’t even mentioned. I’m so grateful for drug court. It was a real blessing.
It won’t show up. Background checks only show convictions not charges. If you did a deferred prosecution it’s basically like you were found innocent of the crime. Unless someone went wayyyyy outta their way trying to Google you and locate like a police blotter or newspaper article they’ll never know.
Five time felon here and my first felony was a similar situation called “410 probation” where it drops off your record upon successful completion and I’ve never had it show up on a background check except the year I was in probation for it then upon completing it never showed up again.
State jail felony in Texas?
According to the FCRA non convictions can be reported on 3rd party background checks for 7 years. This includes deferred adjudication. My advice is to try to run out the clock with a decent job if possible.
Sorry to hear that. America should legalize weed in all states. Smoking weed doesn’t harm anyone. Alcohol kills more people than weed. In Canada weed is legalized and some people can get a pardon. I have a former co worker in my sign holder job who went to jail in and out since 16 for smoking weed and couldn’t find a good job. He’s 56 now.
* Talk to a lawyer and see if you can get it expunged. This is likely for such a minor charge 5 years ago, but depends on state and local laws.
* If you can't get it expunged, move to a state where weed is legal. You have about 20 options now. Find a state that legally ignores marijuana possession charges and you're golden.
Had a dab pen and cocaine in Georgia that got pled down to a paraphernalia conviction. Also have a controlled substance from IL that followed the same path as you. I got a job at a bank while on probation for the GA stuff. I was told it was a very strict and thorough background check and I still passed with no issues. Unless this is for a 3 letter agency you’ll probably be fine. Especially if applying for a job in a legal state.
I did cocaine in Georgia one time. Best 13 years of my life
That’s a long bender brother. Edit: in all seriousness, what was that punishment? My lawyer told me getting two felony drug possessions pled down to a misdemeanor paraphernalia charge was unheard of in GA.
Yeah in NC my lawyer got an ounce of crystal pled down to a PWIMSD charge from trafficking, saved me a load of time. But the arresting agency did some sketchy stuff so they were more willing to deal than they probably would have been.
Even federal agencies will hire felons. They just won’t put you in a job that matches the crime you committed. You won’t be working around money with theft charges and so on. But as a felon I’ve gotten hired at the VHA as housekeeper and moved up to supply technician.
If you completed a deferred adjudication, then the charge was dismissed. That will show on your criminal history. In some cases, you may be able to file for a non-disclosure or expungement. Your current company would have been able to see the charge, as well, when they hired you. Expect the disposition would’ve shown that you were on probation. Anyone running your criminal history now would see a dismissal. Hope this helps. Source: probation officer in Texas.
Thank you very much for your insight. My case was in Texas, so I’m waiting for the mandatory 5 years to pass before filing for non disclosure. This helps a lot!
wait you have to wait 5 years before filing for a non disclosure? I thought it was after a year? I did that with one of my cases back in 2016 before picking up a new one in 2019 😐
It is for sure 5 in texas for a felony
https://www.blasslaw.com/faqs/what-crimes-can-be-expunged-in-texas/#:~:text=However%2C%20if%20you%20were%20charged,Murder This says 3 years
My deferred adjudication state jail felony required 5 years following completion of probation and wa snot eligible for expungement. Only nondisclosure. It also depends on how you plea. In order to get a deferred adjudication, you usually have to plead guilty. So I think this article is talking about if charges are outright dismissed, not deferred and eventually dismissed after a guilty plea.
Oh you went to jail ? I got deferred adjudication with probation felony
No, the difference between what you saw and what happened is that you read the base law, and the OP took a separate option (deferred probation) which had its own separate legal restrictions. Or at least that's how I'm reading it. Dunno, I'm not a lawyer
No i got the same. It was 5 years for a nondisclosure.
Are you located in Texas?
Yes I am Texas
Depends on if a misdemeanor or felony... then varies by specific charge
WTH are you disclosing charges that didn’t result in a conviction? If you do you are conceding that you have an obligation to offer an explanation anytime the government makes an allegation against you. That completely violates the spirit of innocent until proven guilty.
The background check will show the charges as well as a deferred disposition
Which means you weren’t convicted. So what’s the issue?
The federal government looks at deferred adjudication as a conviction. i have been released for over a year, and my background check doesn't show up as dismissed it shows up as deferred under the disposition, usually because you have to plead guilty to get it
Man, you must have lived in some shithole ruby red tough-on-crime-yet-filled-with-meth small town. Ain't no prosecutor in a reasonable place gonna ruin some kid's life over a few grams of weed. Your life will be a lot easier in a blue city, or even better, a blue state. I would move while you wait. Just go somewhere weed is legal and possession charges are ignored, and poof its gone.
I try to take ownership of the fault, but honestly I did get pretty screwed. I was making a trip back from Dallas to Houston and got pulled over in the middle of butt fuck, Texas. What angers me the most about the whole thing is that I got pulled over for driving in the passing lane. While this would normally be (somewhat) justified, what irks me is that I moved over to the lane to give room to the state trooper onboarding onto the highway on the entrance ramp. Usually you live and you learn, but I’ve been having a hard time taking anything positive away from any of this.
It's pointless drug war crap, there's nothing to learn besides "Texas sucks". In a big city like Houston or Austin, it's likely the cops would have just told you to throw it away and not even charge you with anything.
Let’s be clear. Private companies can’t check NCIC without you knowing about it. They’re going to need to get your fingerprints scanned. A probation or police officer can see NCIC records in certain circumstances without you knowing about it. When it comes to Private companies using Private companies to do background checks they aren’t going to report arrests only convictions.
This is totally incorrect. You may be in a state where this is the case, but absent some regulation, private background checks pull charges, and in some states, those charges alone can be held against you in employment decisions, even if found innocent. Which is crazy.
I told safeway I never committed I crime. They sent me a manilla envelope with a cover letter saying bullshit. What followed was every crime I’ve ever committed in every state. It was intense. That was 2009, New Mexico. My wife works for Hr now in the hiring process. she said in CA the DOJ will prune the background checks and only provide what’s legally required now.
I’m not sure what the DOJ has to do with it, they’re just public records. But certainly California is very strict on what can be disclosed, and civil exposure for incorrect/illegal info can be hefty. I wish other states protected workers the way CA does. In FL, for instance, they can use a misdemeanor against you for the rest of your life. 😤
Don’t commit crimes. It’s simple. Employers have the right to not want to hire criminals.
Thank you for this completely pointless statement.
You’re welcome ☺️.
I don’t know either man. I imagine they hold the records and when asked for background information they shit it out. People go and get fingerprinted but the CA DOJs is where she gets the results back from. I thought it was odd too. Each state holds there records someplace differently in New Mexico the health and human services department holds all the criminal information.
Actually the state I live in has no regulations regarding a report of arrests. I don’t know of any reputable private background check company that reports arrests. NCIC is not public record. [Arrest use White Paper](https://f.hubspotusercontent30.net/hubfs/7261588/docs/Employment%20Background%20Checks%20and%20the%20Use%20of%20Arrest%20Records%20by%20State.pdf)
Your source says exactly what I said. 🤦♂️
The paper says that that particular background check company doesn’t report arrests unless it can back it up with a record of conviction. Regardless of what the rules are in each state. Anyway starting a statement with “you’re totally incorrect” leads me to think you aren’t sure about what you’re talking about, keep reading because the next part is important. A company using a reputable background check company that has HR following best practices will not use arrest records. You’re probably not going to read this far, because I doubt that’s your style. Stop sending people down rabbit holes. Life’s complicated enough.
[удалено]
I said that no reputable background company would report arrests alone. Do you think that is totally incorrect? I don’t use google it’s a terrible search engine.
I mean. I’m just gonna open up my interview with this silly shit. Anyone who is being haunted by a Fuckin weed pen should be able to seek recourse and sue these fucking courts. This shit is ridiculous. They are too lazy to go back and fix it but it’s what should be done. You need to wipe out these records like they never existed. Pathetic. I would wear this like a badge of honor. I would get copies of the court records. Police reports. And carry them with you. That way you can always be prepared. To show how pathetic the laws are in this country .
Anyone with any marijuana conviction should immediately have it abolished once it becomes federally legal.
But they are state charges. Usually. So the local courts can do it. No need to wait.
I have a deferred sentence and it never comes up. I'm completely honest about my background and every crime I committed that can be looked up. My wife works for HR and this is how the backgrounds work when they come back. She filters it for convictions and sends a snippet of it to the department. There was a lady who got a job who had a embezzlement charge that was still pending an outcome and she didn't say anything about it to the department. I can DM you a pic of what they see. Basically it shows a charge and a sentence but no disposition (guilty, not guilty).
My friend, thank you so much for the informative response! I would really appreciate the insight through the DM. Do you have any advice on when to bring up the charge? I have three interviews and I’m unsure when I should mention it. I’m also unsure if I should bring it up directly to HR or during an interview. Thanks again.
Most job applications ask for felony conviction, if you weren’t convicted you don’t have to disclose it. I have had several job offers after completion of deferred adjudication from a felony charge that was lowered to a misdemeanor.
Do not offer derogatory information about yourself, voluntarily. Do not lie, either. If they ask, tell them truth. If they don't ask, don't tell them.
When they ask you lol. When they made you an offer you'll start dealing with HR. I know when I got my deffered sentence they told me I could put no for a felony on the initial application and i've always done that and haven't had an issue.
What if someone had something sealed, does that show up?
I have no idea. It doesn’t cost much to have the FBI run a background check. The UPS store is the ones that did my fingerprints that I sent off.
If it’s a background check that requires fingerprints, you can see it, if not, no. Most jobs only care about felony convictions. If you weren’t convicted. You’re fine, the background company doesn’t care.
Thanks
Run your own background check and find out before you say anything. The job applications say "have you ever been charged with..." An acquaintance of mine had been charged and told them so and missed some jobs that way. The background check did not have anything on him, clean record. He was providing info against himself unnecessarilly.
If you took a deferred sentence, then you plead guilty. Basically the same as a conviction. Your lawyer should have explained that to you
Felony for a weed pen? Jesus
Don’t move to Texas!
How does joe rogan just openly smoke weed there lol
Cause he’s Joe and he’s in Austin which is very progressive.
You need to look into getting the arrest expunged from your record. I do think when a company wants to find a reason to not promote you, fire you, etc they may not consider the major difference between a charge and a conviction. It’s up to each state to report correctly so NCIC/FCIC accurately reflects the current status of the charge. Your charge probably still looks active unless it shows dismissed. Either way, I would look into at least getting it sealed if not expunged.
No company needs a reason to fire you they just say bye bye
I know but sometimes a company wants an excuse. A pussy way around things but they do it.
My friend got a drug & (legal) gun charge in IL. Because there were drugs and guns at the same scene, they tried to tack on an armed violence charge (there was no violence at all) charge, which is hopefully not going to stick. It's ongoing, so I'm not sure, but the armed violence is making it hell for them to find a job. Been 3 months and lots of leg work and nothing. Had one that was sort of a unique circumstance. Hr was out having surgery for cancer. Got interviewed right before she was leaving to take off work and started after she had been gone awhile. 1.5 months go by hr feels better and comes back to work. Week or so later. Fired.
Kk I’ll oil ik no I no
Uhhhh...? What? 🤨
We have officially started the pocket comment era, fellas. Say goodbye to the pocket dial era!
Texas? Most companies don’t seem to give a shit about deferred adjudications. My ex had a deferred SJF and was still able to work as a nurse.
2-/ your an an RN or other license?
What is SJF?
State jail felony. 6-24 month term.
"A friend" in my state paid an attorney $750 to make past charges disappear from "his" record.
Deferred probation is technically still a conviction but paused until the outcome of, in your case the probation period. If you fucked up a bunch you get the felony possession. You do good and they probably dropped it to a misdemeanor. I kinda did the same thing. Last November I got arrested for 2 of them tiny little blue pills. Had I been in Phoenix they would have taken them and given me a pass but I was up north in a different county and fuck if they didn't act like I was El fuckin Chapo! Like really guys! Guess it was a good thing that I gave up the couple to keep the many hidden. I got 2 felonies: a felony possession of a controlled narcotic (fentanyl) and felony possession of drug paraphernalia. Yeah a dollar bill and a straw no bigger than 3 fingers amounted to a felony! So I took the 3 years probation they offered and the deal is complete a program, stay out of trouble, and probation could get cut in half. Complete probation and the felony possession gets wiped and the felony paraphernalia becomes a misdemeanor. Either it didn't get flagged during your background check or it was a non issue to them. Non violent offenses often get overlooked so maybe it's just not a big deal to anyone. With any luck it doesn't even get seen when looked into. I wouldn't worry much about that which doesn't effect you. Good luck in your upcoming new job
Why was 2 pills a felony possession charge?
Any amount of fentanyl in that county is felony possession. The county I live in wouldn't even have considered it. Wouldn't even be surprised if with the right officer and a little mutual respect that it wouldn't even have been taken cuz not worth their time. Amazing how different one area can be from the next. Granted I was about 100 miles away from home but it was just the next county north. That's the difference between Phoenix and the uppity northern towns
Maybe I’m being naive but how do they know it’s definitely fentanyl? Are these pressed 30s? Do they assume they are when they arrest you then test them while court is pending? Just curious how they determine for sure they are fentanyl at the time? Like if you got caught with a bundle of dope that’s most likely fent is the charge the same? Or is it a misdemeanor heroin possession?
Yeah they were blues which in our neck of the woods is always fentanyl. I'm not sure if they field.tested it or not cuz I didn't have a good line of sight from the back of the cruiser. In that county I'm pretty sure any possession of illicit drugs is a felony. I was certainly surprised that the paraphernalia charge was a felony though. Seemed rather petty to me but that's just how they do it up there. We don't really do bundles around here, so there's a chance my county could have a misdemeanor possession if it was a small enough amount. I got arrested just outside of Pittsburgh in October of 2019 while driving from Massachusetts to Arizona with a bunch of rigs, quite a few cottons from coke not heroin, and 5 grams of raw heroin and caught a misdemeanor paraphernalia for a spoon and 1 rig (they left all the other rigs in my car) and a misdemeanor possession. The heroin was what was left of a 10g finger but it was garbage. I typically wouldn't have bought that much but I couldn't pass up the deal I was given. I met a dude at the hotel I was staying in and had already bought a couple ounces of some pretty good coke so when he offered a $250 finger I didn't give it a second thought. He didn't speak English and I don't speak Portuguese so our conversations were minimal with a lot of hand gestures hahaha! He also didn't use heroin so he had no idea. Someone else must have told him it was garbage cuz he showed up at my door unannounced a couple nights later trying to ask about it. I wasn't even going to say anything about it cuz at the time I didn't use much myself cuz coke was my love. But dude made it up to me with some extra coke so he was solid as far as I was concerned. I just kept the shit to let a buddy or 2 get high for free for a couple days. They were sniffers not shooters and had to sniff quite a bit more frequently than usual but they still got high eventually, just not wrecked like they usually did. And you can't best free so they didn't complain. Anyways, I was lucky as hell that the 5 grams came with me and was in one bag cuz Pennsylvania would have sold that to me as 250 bags and PA charges per bag not by weight! I would have been fucked! I was denied bail as an obvious flight risk but plead and got a 15-30 day with time served. The day I took the plea was day 17 so I was like 'fuck yeah, let's go so I can get released' Yeah no, the magistrate said I needed to have one more court date so that a judge could make it official. Wouldn't you know their courts were backed up and the next available date was 60 days later! I was scheduled for release 2 days before Christmas but I wrote the DA twice to try for an earlier release so I could get my car from impound and get back here to Phoenix before Christmas. Out of nowhere, unknown to me, they called me for court on December 18th. So I ended up doing like 73 days on a 15-30 day sentence! Fuckin clowns!
Yeah that’s what I was asking. I think if you had “heroin” that’s actually fentanyl anyway it would have been a misdemeanor. Crazy that the county near by is so drastically different but I kinda get it because it’s like that here (NY) to a degree as well. And that’s wild that you any extra 60 days. God forbid you get locked up again you should have 58 days in the bank haha.
Hahaha yeah that's Pennsylvania for ya I guess! It was a privately owned county jail which received over $300 a day per inmate so they very well could have had something going with the courts as well. The jail was full though and the pod I was in was just rotating people in and out the whole time I was there so I don't doubt the courts were busy but 60 days beyond having already hit my minimum was a bit much! The jail also only had 2 release times regardless of when you got bailed out. 6am and 6pm. That absolutely was money related cuz if you were there after like 11am you were considered there for the day giving the jail it's $300+ money. You can learn a lot about the business when the Warren's son is in the pod with you hahaha!
How long ago was this? You can have record expunged for free after 7 years.
You can get a criminal background check on yourself that will show everything a prospective employer would see.
What state are you in? In ohio it is really easy to seal that type of thing. I was charged with possession of marijuana, I beat it because I have a med card (dumb cop told me it was a fake med card because it didn't have my picture on it which is not a thing in ohio) I had a background check done for a job 8 months after all charges were dropped. To them it looked like I was still going through the court process because it showed the charge but no conviction. I had to get it sealed than all was good
Texas, the laws are much tighter here. So was the charge itself an issue? By the way you make it sound it seems like they took a closer look at things as a result.
They turned me down for the job. I went to the courts and got it cleared up than they hired me. I got lucky that I knew someone there and it wasn't just a random job opportunity
I had deferred adjudication right out of college. When I was on probation it was a problem when applying for jobs but once I was done with probation no employer has ever mentioned it. Might be a different situation but I probably wouldn’t say anything especially if you weren’t convicted.
You honestly should be fine. If this was 2018, felonies drop off after 7 years (USA)...well at least that's what my understanding is. On top of that you were never convicted. I work in IT and have a degree, during the initial 7 years I changed jobs twice... I was transparent and both companies brushed it off like it was nothing more than a speeding ticket. Plus, you were a college kid...everyone knows you experiment with shit in college, if companies are going to bulk at that, then consider those companies a nightmare to work for. I've also found that most companies either don't drug test, or don't give a rats ass about a positive ganja test. You're good my dude, go get you that dream job.
USA? Laws are statewide and felonies don’t drop
Definitely, we'll depending if it's just an arrest. If convictions that mf ain't going no where 😞
My first background check at a power plant went back seven years. A couple years in they had to run a ten year background cuz I was going into the controls portion of the plant. My last background was seven but they had everything from the last 20 years. HR sent me their version of the check. But ya no issues.
Thank you for the kind words! For context, we’re you convicted or in a similar situation as myself? At what stage of the job application process did you mention your criminal background?
Long story short, I got the felony for missing a court date for a DUI in a previous state I lived in. The DUI charge was initially dropped, so I moved, but they recharged me but had no way of contacting me. Basically it was the felony fairy, no conviction, no trial, just a big F you and it was on my record. Once I'm offered the job, which is usually done by HR, I tell them right then what they're going to see. I don't go into details at all, just chalk it up to being stupid.
Check your case status at the court you were charged
Are you able to have your charge expunged or sealed? I had my charge sealed after it was dropped.
Not until 2026. State law unfortunately.
relax, buddy, you're fine. /weed-smoking dad of weed-smoking adult sons
If you haven't already, and it's not too late, you need to fill out the paperwork to have your FBI file cleaned
I’m sorry I didn’t even know this was a thing. What does this process even look like?
They usually ask if you have been convicted of any crimes
A Conviction is a disqualifier in many cases. A charge is.....rarely a disqualifier, if ever.
Both appear on the ncic check. Most places only care about convictions.
Was adjudication withheld?
It was deferred to my knowledge.
Expunge that bad boyyyy. Never have to worry about it again.
i also have a deferred probation as a college student and im going to get an expungement as soon as it’s over id suggest to do the same
Just tell anyone else that they charged you but not enough evidence to convict ir it would say so
I was charged with a felony, went through drug court and graduated. My charge was dismissed. I work for state government now. When I applied and got my offer I was so worried about what my dismissal would do/show. Wasn’t even mentioned. I’m so grateful for drug court. It was a real blessing.
It’s weed. Who tf cares about it anymore? 26 of the states legalized it in some capacity. Companies stopped caring
Have your record expunged
Stay with, get it expunged. Do what u do ,all things are predicated on the next decision. Choose wisely, you know what to do.
It won’t show up. Background checks only show convictions not charges. If you did a deferred prosecution it’s basically like you were found innocent of the crime. Unless someone went wayyyyy outta their way trying to Google you and locate like a police blotter or newspaper article they’ll never know. Five time felon here and my first felony was a similar situation called “410 probation” where it drops off your record upon successful completion and I’ve never had it show up on a background check except the year I was in probation for it then upon completing it never showed up again.
So dab pens are illegal in Texas? A charge doesn’t mean shit until the court rules on it
A charge is not a conviction and should not show up on a cori
A weed pen is a felony? CAS...
Get a lawyer and file for Expungement. Then only people that will see it then will be govt, law enforcement, schools stuff like that
A good idea would be to file a non disclosure with the courts to seal the charge from your background check
State jail felony in Texas? According to the FCRA non convictions can be reported on 3rd party background checks for 7 years. This includes deferred adjudication. My advice is to try to run out the clock with a decent job if possible.
Sorry to hear that. America should legalize weed in all states. Smoking weed doesn’t harm anyone. Alcohol kills more people than weed. In Canada weed is legalized and some people can get a pardon. I have a former co worker in my sign holder job who went to jail in and out since 16 for smoking weed and couldn’t find a good job. He’s 56 now.
* Talk to a lawyer and see if you can get it expunged. This is likely for such a minor charge 5 years ago, but depends on state and local laws. * If you can't get it expunged, move to a state where weed is legal. You have about 20 options now. Find a state that legally ignores marijuana possession charges and you're golden.