Arrest, Search, Seizure, Warrant False Arrest

[falsecrimes]

I was arrested late August 2009 for Lewd and Lascivious(not sure if that's how its spelled) This came out of no where I did not even know I was under investigation.

On the way to the jail the officer told me that the warrant was issued in early 2004. Now during the 5 year gap in between when the warrant was issued and actually carried out, I attended the police acadamy, in the county the warrant was issued in, passing a back round check AND them running my finger prints.

I immediately got in touch with my buddy who is a cop and he told me something wasn't right. The alleged victims dad was outraged. He had tried to get some guy arrested in 2004 for having sex with his daughter who was underage and some how I was getting arrested for it. He called the state attorney the next morning and demanded the charges dropped, if not he would testify on my behalf and not allow his daughter to testify, leaving them with basically no case.(Edit : They dropped the charges 2 weeks later)

Being arrested and having my face all over the county website and paper has ruined my reputation and with it my chances of getting a job in law enforcement. The county I live in is small and everyone knows everything about everyone. I feel my name was tarnished because of the incident, I wasted money going to the police academy, and had to pay 1,500 bail to get out of jail.

During which time my girlfriend was 7-8 months pregnant and was stressing out big time.

Do I have a case, will I get compensation for my tarnished reputation/bail/schooling/stress to my pregnant girlfriend?
How long do I have to lawyer up, i'm not well off on cash(esp with being short 1500) so I don't want to commit to a lawyer if I dont have a case.

Please help,

Thanks in advanced.

 

[CdwJava]

Was the warrant issued in your name? Would the name and descriptive information on the face of the warrant give a person of reasonable care good cause to believe it was you named on the warrant? if so, then the arrest was good and you have no cause of action.

Now, if you can show that there was some heinous negligence on the part of someone who entered the warrant incorrectly or failed to confirm the warrant, you might have a cause of action against someone, but that would likely be the issuing agency or the agency that input the data.

Can you explain why this mistake occurred? How did the warrant come out in your name?

 

[falsecrimes]

My friend cop is the step son of the outraged father. I lived with them a few months before the older guy had sex with his daughter. They asked me if I ever had known them to have sex or even hang out, which I did not.

What gives them the right to not serve a warrant for 5 years, I lived my life and they totally ruined it because of them taking 5 years.

 

[mightymoose]

I wish serving warrants was that easy. People change residences... warrants have wrong information... people lie... it just isn't an easy thing to do most times. A lot of warrants float around out there for a long period of time before they are finally served the next time that person comes into contact with law enforcement... frequently on a traffic stop.
There really is nothing unusual about your story here... if the papers spread negative info about you, go to them and ask them to print a retraction that corrects the situation.
You aren't ruined in law enforcement.... so long as you remain honest about what happened and don't try to cover it up.

 

[CdwJava]

My friend cop is the step son of the outraged father. I lived with them a few months before the older guy had sex with his daughter. They asked me if I ever had known them to have sex or even hang out, which I did not.

What gives them the right to not serve a warrant for 5 years, I lived my life and they totally ruined it because of them taking 5 years.

If someone lied, or some horrendous malfeasance was conducted to cause your identification and arrest for a crime you did not commit, you might have a cause of action against the person who did that. However, the officers that arrested you likely did so on a good faith basis as they were just adhering to the court order to take you in to custody. The fact that it took 5 years to serve you can be a problem if you have never changed addresses since the warrant came out as your attorney can argue a lack of due diligence in the service of the warrant. If the court agrees, and the SOL for the underlying offense has since tolled, you could be out of the woods ... but, since you say the charges have been dropped, then that is a moot point.

Also, an arrest is not something private employers can generally ask about - only convictions. And while law enforcement employers can and will ask about arrests, the matter should be considered in context and a good background investigator would try to obtain a copy of the report in support of the arrest warrant to help determine what happened.

 

[CdwJava]

I wish serving warrants was that easy. People change residences... warrants have wrong information... people lie... it just isn't an easy thing to do most times. A lot of warrants float around out there for a long period of time before they are finally served the next time that person comes into contact with law enforcement... frequently on a traffic stop.
There really is nothing unusual about your story here... if the papers spread negative info about you, go to them and ask them to print a retraction that corrects the situation.
You aren't ruined in law enforcement.... so long as you remain honest about what happened and don't try to cover it up.

We recently served a warrant on a guy from 1994 ... I have heard of local warrants going back as much as 20 years that suddenly get served because the person's name is run!

Plus, as you know, many warrants are local and not entered into CJIS/NCIC, so unless they are checked locally, they will not come up in a background or fingerprint clearance through DOJ or the FBI.

 

[ColleenO]

Wow. Unfortunetly, mistakes do happen. It seems like you're paying the price for it. I would contact an attorney, because you could receive compensation for the potential loss of wages. Are you working at all now? If not you, you can look into the presettlement funding to help you out financially until your case settles- if you decide to move forward with a lawsuit. I know that Orchard Legal Funding does this type of thing.