Need help from knowledgable people...

[jeffreyliu838]

I DEP'ed into the Army in September and in December I recieved notices of charges being filed against me. In the same month, I was notified that the charges were dropped/not filed. At this time, I notified my recruiters in a timely matter and they were fully updated with the situation. My ship date is February 1st, and I was feeling good and getting excited for basic, but two days ago I recieved a notice from the DMV in the mail telling me that I have an outstanding record... The original charges were listed along with failure to appear and "violation of promise to appear". My license will be suspended on Feb 20th.

I went down to the local superior (I think?) court and they told me that the charges are there. Then I went to the probation department that first told me that the charges were dropped. They told me that they couldn't give me anything because the charges don't exist, so I went to the DA. They said the same thing. After a bunch of calling back and forth, I finally got a letter from the deputy probation officer that first called me saying that the charges were dropped. I gave this to the recruiter and he said that this letter makes me good to ship. However, I still have not talked to the DMV, and from what I understand, to them the charges still exist. What should I do? If I were to hire a lawyer, what would he do? I was thinking about just going down to the DMV, but I'm pretty sure they can't do anything there. I'm hesitant to go down to the court to talk to a judge because I think they'll just charge me because they think that I still have pending charges and that I failed to appear on my court date.

Thanks.

EDIT: I ship on the first, but I'm supposed to go to the hotel the day before... So I only have today and Monday morning to take care of all of this. Also, when I went down to the probation office, they told me that this is all probably because someone missed a memo and that it wasn't a big deal... It's a little relieving to hear, but I don't want to ship and then have warrants out for my arrest because I wasn't here to clear it up.

EDIT2: I forgot to mention, I did go down to the local LASD station and talk to the guy at the front. He told me that the charges are "outstanding" and that if I don't clear it up, there will be arrest warants. He is the one that advised me to go down to the court house.

[Jack L]

I DEP'ed into the Army in September and in December I recieved notices of charges being filed against me. In the same month, I was notified that the charges were dropped/not filed. At this time, I notified my recruiters in a timely matter and they were fully updated with the situation. My ship date is February 1st, and I was feeling good and getting excited for basic, but two days ago I recieved a notice from the DMV in the mail telling me that I have an outstanding record... The original charges were listed along with failure to appear and "violation of promise to appear". My license will be suspended on Feb 20th.

I went down to the local superior (I think?) court and they told me that the charges are there. Then I went to the probation department that first told me that the charges were dropped. They told me that they couldn't give me anything because the charges don't exist, so I went to the DA. They said the same thing. After a bunch of calling back and forth, I finally got a letter from the deputy probation officer that first called me saying that the charges were dropped. I gave this to the recruiter and he said that this letter makes me good to ship. However, I still have not talked to the DMV, and from what I understand, to them the charges still exist. What should I do? If I were to hire a lawyer, what would he do? I was thinking about just going down to the DMV, but I'm pretty sure they can't do anything there. I'm hesitant to go down to the court to talk to a judge because I think they'll just charge me because they think that I still have pending charges and that I failed to appear on my court date.

Thanks.

EDIT: I ship on the first, but I'm supposed to go to the hotel the day before... So I only have today and Monday morning to take care of all of this. Also, when I went down to the probation office, they told me that this is all probably because someone missed a memo and that it wasn't a big deal... It's a little relieving to hear, but I don't want to ship and then have warrants out for my arrest because I wasn't here to clear it up.

EDIT2: I forgot to mention, I did go down to the local LASD station and talk to the guy at the front. He told me that the charges are "outstanding" and that if I don't clear it up, there will be arrest warants. He is the one that advised me to go down to the court house.

Send copies of your letters to the DMV. Have a good time in the Army.

[Notorious]

Go to the courthouse clerk and ask to see the docket on your case. If you have a FTA, then your case was called into court and the judge had to note the FTA on your file.

Get certified copies of those and take it to the probation office, DA's office, and every other office until this is cleared up. Don't mess around with a 10 year bench warrant on you. All you need is to get put in the clink for a weekend if you are stopped for any reason and end up getting in trouble all over again.

[Spanky8601]

Not sure if my take on this is correct...........but if was a DUI charge you were facing then the actions at DMV (license suspension) do not depend on what happens at court. If DMV suspended your DL for that reason it is technically a civil matter not criminal in the DMV mindset.

If it was not DUI then the information in post #3 is very sound and should be followed.

[jeffreyliu838]

Not a DUI. I'm gonna go monday morning and try to get this FTA stuff cleared up for sure. Thanks for the advice.

If I can't get it out of the way for whatever reason, could my parents act on my behalf while I'm in basic? Or would I just have to postpone my ship date?