ok so last month i got stopped for speeding and got a ticket. only the 3rd one in my life. was doin 45 in a 30. it was a 110 buck fine. i decided to plead guilty and just pay and go on. well i sent in the check and all, and now today i get this notice for a warrant for my arrest!!! apparently they never got the check?? my record is totally clean except for that!! this seems to be a mistake! there is a number to call but i gotta wait till tommorrow to call. Wat should i tell them?? Or wat can i do here? thanks.

 

You need to talk to the clerk of court. They will straighten it out. In the meantime I would check your bank statement and see if the check was cashed.

 

Yep, make sure the check cleared. Happens from time to time. Probably a bureaucratic snafu, but they don't seem to care.

I send anything like that registered and signed for.

 

ok cause i remember putting it in the mail. my statement came through and that check was not on it. i remember putting a return address on the envelope as well. so hopefully if i talk to the clerk i can clear it up an not have to pay the 500 bucks or more for bail money.

 

contact the district attorney's office if fine paid, if not Court Clerk.
I have never heard of an arrest warrant sent to the individual, it is usually attached to a police officer......
interesting.

 

The first ticket I ever got was for a tail light being out. Just went out too, I explained to him how it went out about an hour earlier and I was on my way home from a trip to Beaumont!



The cop said "sign this, it's just a warning" and let me go. Put a new bulb in no biggie then got a warrant notification too, apparently it was a ticket and he just didn't explain it to me. Went to the court and talked to the JP who was my girl friend's grandmother and got it taken care of.

 

It's probably just a "Failure to Appear" warrant- common as flies out here in Kalifornia. Cops usually don't even drag you in for an FTA- they'll ticket you for the current offense and tell you to get the FTA cleared up.

A visit to the clerk will clear it up like qcstunter said. Don't sweat it, it's not a big deal. They just want your $$$, not your hind end in jail .

 

Do you have a carbonless copy checkbook?

Anyway, I'd go show up at the next court session and explain what happened.

Bring bail money just in case.

 

so uhm, is there a reward yet??? Ya know, with christmas and all coming up...

 

I read this thread too, I'm entitled to a cut!!!

 

They do it down here, send you a letter first hoping for a voluntary surrender. Unfortunately, if the check didn't clear the bank you don't usually have a leg to stand on, but plead your case anyway. I know it's too late to help you but always send a postal money order in a registered letter, return receipt requested. Postal money orders don't bounce and the certified letter proves you mailed it and who signed for it. It's on them once the post office delivers it to them.

In the event you resolve this and it's they admit a mistake on their part, make sure they submit the paperwork to remove the arrest from your record and get a letter from the court showing the same. It's called expungement.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expungement

 

I've already called Crime Stoppers so the reward money is mine!

If you step foot inside the court house make sure you bring $600 in cash, and don't go in on a Friday!
If they put you in jail you are stuck there until Monday.

 

I had this happen twice in NM. Must have the same half wits as MO working the courts.
1st time,1995, got a ticket for no proof of insurance. Went to the the clerk of court the next day with my proof. (Insured the car just a few days earlier over the phone and hadn't received the card in the mail, pre computers!)
Clerk cleared it, good to go. 2years later I get pulled over for speeding. Arrested for bench warrant from 2 years prior! Ended up being dropped before I went to court, but what a humiliating waste of a day. Also hard to explain to the boss why my company truck was left on the side of the road and I wasn't at work at 5am!
2nd time, couple years ago. Got a speeding ticket, opted to go to court (hope the officer didn't show up), rescheduled once, I missed the date. Called the next day to settle up with the court. Already had a warrant out. Went down to court and paid double the fine to get it cleared (my fault, no big deal). Get a letter from the clerk and instructions to take it to the DMV to reinstate my driving privledges (warrant was dropped, but supposedly license was suspended). DMV has no record of my license being suspended, or of my license at all (had an AZ license at the time). Told me to go to AZ to reinstate it. Called court clerk, they said specifically it's a NM DMV issue. called AZ they ahd no record of suspension either. Went back to NM DMV, of couse they still had no suspension to clear up, acted like I was wasting their time. Stopped an Albuquerque cop, asked him to run my license (hoping he wouldn't arrest me!). He ran it thru the system....clear, no suspension!
Get pulled over few months later for broken trailer light (most traielrs in NM, I swear don't even have lights or tags!), my license is suspended! Would have gotten arrested, but I had the paperwork form the court that said I paid my fine for the orig violation + failure to appear. Cop ticketed me for susp license, but no arrest, just a court date due to me showing him the paperwork. Went to court, they dropped the fine. Checked again with NM DMV, license not suspended, never was in the system.
I dunno, moved shortly thereafter to CO. Got pulled over for speeding here, still had AZ license. I was sweating it and still had that paperwork (in a differnet truck). My AZ license came back fine, but.............................cop told me I have 2 vaild driver's licenses, AZ and.............CO! I said that's impossible. I left CO in 2003 and turned in my CO license for an AZ one in 2003. Nope CO license still was valid. Cop didn't make a big deal of it though and the nice part. I got my new CO license in the mail. Sent in a lost license/change of address form and got my new license without ever having to go to the DMV.
Whole point is, DMV and courts are pretty messed up on their communication with each other and we're the ones who pay for the hassle!

 

I got a ticket for 40 in a 25, cost me $89. First ticket in my lifetime of driving. When I sent in the paperwork and payment, I made a photocopy of it to keep for my records and also put a copy in my truck just in case. Even IF they didn't receive your payment or something was not credited properly, the copy does serve to show you are telling them the truth about having sent the payment, it will also serve to keep you out of jail in that moment of time where you ARE being faced by an officer. Or at least it should, who knows these days, things are so upside down it rediculous.


CD

 

was in Phoenix last Feb for a dyno day and got pulled over. Cop came up, got my info and was in his car for 30 minutes! I was like, I am boned now. I then see another cop pull up behind him. Mind you I got pulled over for a burnt out license plate light! He came up and ADMITTED to me that I was making him nervous bacause my truck was so tall and he could not see in (last thing a cop should do is ADMIT being nervous), anyways, came up the first time and said my license plates come up as an ACURA and my DL was invalid. I told him he better go back and punch in the numbers again and doulbe check before hitting enter. I even handed him the original registration from the dealer with the plate number when I bought the truck and told him I have NEVER owned an Acura. He then was going to write me a ticket for

1. no mud flaps (a law in AZ)
2. burnt out license plate light
3. my license plate frame covers the state (another AZ law)
4. cracked windshield
5. invalid plates on truck.

After his back up (more seasoned cop) got to looking at things, He said that I was good to go that the rookie typed things in wrong and told me to go get the bulb replaced asap and to have a nice night and sorry for taking NEARLY AN HOUR. I was peeved

just glad that was the ONLY time that weekend we did not have ANY guns in the truck.