Innocent until proven guilty? Not in this country.

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SeraniCrystalbrook's avatar
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I'm at a point where I just want to crawl into a hole. I was offered, then had rescinded the offers on two jobs now, because I've been arrested for, but NOT CONVICTED OF, something I didn't do.

Several years ago, there was a mess over some welfare fraud. I was never even tried, much less convicted. I was overpaid on food stamps and because I couldn't afford a lawyer and the public defender told me I'd be convicted, I agreed to pay the money back (even though I didn't have it) and do community service to make it go away. And my record will, eventually, be expunged, when I pay off money I don't really owe and don't really have.

But because of this, because the person who handled our case didn't even once try to contact us about it and work something out, I may never be able to work at a decent job again.

Because I was *under suspicion* and couldn't afford to prove that I was innocent.

Even though I'm not supposed to have to prove my innocence.

I just don't know what to do anymore. Target or Walmart, I guess. If THEY'LL even hire me.

I sent a letter to the White House. I doubt it'll even be read, much less responded to, but I'm about at my wit's end. Letter is at the bottom here.

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I need help and I don't know where to turn.

Several years ago, I was arrested for welfare fraud that I didn't commit. I was NEVER convicted of it, when I talked to the public defender about going to trial, he told me that, regardless of what I knew to be true, I'd end up getting convicted anyway. I went and paid for a private attorney who worked out a way for my husband and I to get into a program called ARD (Associative Rehabilitative Disposition) that would allow us to do community service and pay them the money they were asking for (some $15,000) and eventually, our records would be expunged.

A year and a half ago, I was laid off. My attempts at paying that dwindled to nothing because I was barely paying rent, utilities and buying food for my family of 5. My husband is disabled and applying for Social Security (he's been turned down twice, he's at the point of judicial appeal and has been waiting since August of last year, so far), but has not yet received it.

I've been looking for work. Finally, last week, I was offered a job. A good one. With a really good salary for a good company with good benefits. But my arrest record - the ARREST that says I was only under suspicion, NOT convicted - made them rescind the offer. I was then offered a DIFFERENT job with a DIFFERENT company. Not as good pay, but still good, still good benefits... and when my background check came back they, too, rescinded the offer.

How am I supposed to pay this back and get it off my record if I can't get a job because of it? Truth be told, I *shouldn't* be paying off $15,000 in food stamps, but I couldn't argue it because I didn't have the money to pay for a decent lawyer to fight it in the first place.

What can I do? There are five of us - myself, my husband, my daughter and my two sons, all trying to just get by. I *can* work - I have more than ten years' experience in the computer field, an associate's degree, excellent references, a certification. I can get the job...except for this.

My unemployment is gone. I've got food stamps, but that's it. We have no health care (or my husband may even have gotten his back fixed, but he, too has the same problem with our record) no way to get any.

Isn't there something that I can do? Please, help.
© 2011 - 2024 SeraniCrystalbrook
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cynaga's avatar
You need a lawyer with experience in this area. It would be better for you to owe a good lawyer fees to get this off your record and then be able to get work than to pay back the $15k and not be able to work. The whole thing sounds like a silly mistake that you have ended up paying for. Unfortunately, you will have to go through the system to it fixed. It's a pain in the ass but what else can you do. Find someone who has been successful with a similar case!