I need some legal advice

[Anonymous]

I was visiting a nude beach last year in Jew Jersey and I met a guy while walking alone. We talked and went for a walk and got carried away and made a dumb decision. We went behind a sand dune in an isolated stretch of beach and engaged in a little sexual activity. The rangers then came out.

The whole ordeal was very ugly. The arresting officer lied to us and told us he wouldn't arrest us if we could show an ID. We did show IDs and he arrested us anyway: booked, fingerprinted, mugshot, everything.

I had to go to a US District Court. The public lewdness charge was downgraded to Disorderly Persons. The assistant Prosecutor said that it was just a violation, but the Public Defender's office said that it was a Petty Misdemeanor.

I saw a copy of the police report. The officer who did the police report entered the wrong social security number. So, since the wrong social security number was entered, does that mean that this incident wouldn't show up in a record search? Can Federal records be searched? If I were fingerprinted for a job, would the fingerprints show up in a database?

Any advice, please help.

[sweetlad2010]

Sorry so that we can help you, I just want to ask is this in the USA not the UK?

[marshlander]

... I just want to ask is this in the USA not the UK?

... I had to go to a US District Court. ...

It's a pity there aren't enough criminals in the US that need catching. I'm sure the police could find more useful things to do than harassing two consenting adults in the dunes on an isolated beach

[Paul1]

Sorry to hear you got caught. I guess you would have had to show your ID anyway had he arrested you before asking, I don't know why he lied. I guess quite a few coppers are just jobworths. It's a bit excessive that they did the whole fingerprint and mugshot thing. In the UK, the worst you're looking at for public indecency of that nature is a fine. How the *beep* did coppers find you in some isolated sand dunes?

I've never done dogging, but in the UK it's not strictly illegal so long as it's done in a private place with the expectation of not being caught. The police usually just caution you and tell you to get a room. On one particular episode of Night Cops, the night police were even trying to not to giggle as they issued a caution for a couple in a road side bush. The policewoman did rightfully point out that it wasn't really discrete enough as pedestrians had noticed.

[sweetlad2010]

It's a pity there aren't enough criminals in the US that need catching. I'm sure the police could find more useful things to do than harassing two consenting adults in the dunes on an isolated beach

lol

[jbrowder24]

I'm sorry to hear that you've had an innocent mistake, in which you were harming no one, cause such grief and get on your record. Yet another failure of our system

I am afraid I don't have an answer for you. My instinct is to say maybe. It may help some, but it may depend who is doing the searching and what exactly their search methods are. But it would seem if they went by Soc Sec # as the basis for the search, it might help.

As embarrassing as it is, I would hope though that if this was something you were honest about with potential employers, that it wouldn't be a hindrance. I'm not saying give the full details or anything, but certainly if they learned from you about a mistake and it seemed like an innocent enough one, it'd be better than just seeing some report and possibly being unsure of what offense was committed.

I'm not sure how to answer your questions on fingerprints and such. I do think some companies may do national background checks as opposed to just state; am not sure if that's what you mean by federal or not. Did you have a lawyer when you went to court? Would he be able to still give some advice to you?

This site may be of some use:
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs16-bck.htm

[OrphanPip]

Depending on your state laws, you can apply to a court for expungement of your record. You could try pleading your case to a judge to see if you can get the record sealed.

[LiZaRD_PlaNET]

You were fingerprinted so most likely the FBI would have you on record now. Try having it expunged. Sometimes expunging the record works. Some employers in the healthcare industry do background checks like the one I work for. Just to let you know that even if expunged, it would still show on the record sent to healthcare employers. This is something to keep in mind if you ever work for a hospital.

[rakmatis]

Ive seen people get out of worse for less. I got out of a warrant because the name was spelled wrong. And it turns out the ticket was illegal too, I hadnt done anything wrong. If you play it right yyou might be able to get rid of it...

[zeon]

Hello there,
Finger p[rints tend to change all the time throughout life so dont worry too much about it... Just ride it out and dont take no chances.. OPne thing i learnt in life to get out of jail free cards is.... Talk utter bollocks,... Dont lie but talk bollocks about things... Just state your not out to your family hence why you couldnt do it at home or claim your a muslim and ya gonna be stoned to death or something lol