Should I bite the bullet and tell my county I have juvenile misdemeanor?

[enbloc]

Long story short, I already sent in my livescan yesterday and upon completing the SD county cert procedure it's asking if I have had any felonies or misdemeanors in the past. I have a misdemeanor from when I was 14 that lead to me getting kicked out of middle school. (Brought a knife on campus, was using my camping backpack and forgot I had it in there and it fell out apparently and a teacher saw it). Filed as a misdemeanor and after probation the judge ruled it as dismissed after satisfactorily completing community service, however I recall the attorney assigned to me stating I still had to have it sealed when I turned 18 or something along those lines.

Fast forward now, I'm 20 and just passed NREMT. I've read that most EMS agencies don't mind juvenile misdemeanors as long as they weren't violent in nature. I've had a clean record with no incident. The site states if you have a juvenile sealed record report no. I've done some research it could take 4-6 month process to seal records and plus I've already submitted my livescan. And farther down the line I believe employers can still see it (I plan to become an RN in the future).

My question is, should I just bite the bullet and state it anyway? My character since then shows significant improvement, I have a bunch of community service and I'm a manager at a chik-fil-a with great community interaction. I know the whole "well would they rather have an EMT with no record or not", but I have managerial experience and wouldn't I have some points for honesty? Please help, I'm anxious to become an EMT and I don't wanna drag out this already long process until what could be OCTOBER-DECEMBER to become an EMT if I wait for the court to seal my record. I doubt I'd retain the knowledge for the field if I wait that long, and the frustration will be painful.

Thanks.

 

[Carlos Danger]

State it. No one is going to care. And keep proof that you did state it.

If the record really was sealed (which it probably is), it isn't going to show up on your background check and no one will care. In that case, I would never state it again, but keep proof that you did initially and that it didn't show up.

If the record wasn't sealed, still no one is going to care. But if it shows up you are going to want to have stated it.

 

[akflightmedic]

By not stating it, aren't you violating Chik Fil A standards of ethics??

 

[Peak]

I would talk to a lawyer about dealing the case. I had a family member who got a misdemeanor for theft as a young teen and that's person still had to petition the courts to have the record sealed afterwards. This might vary from state to state and it would be difficult to give you any real answer.

In said family members case that person doesn't need to report the case on background checks, but only because it was sealed. That was per the lawyer and the court when the case was actually sealed.

 

[Ronfyre]

Ditto above - well said. And it does vary from state to state.

I have represented clients in criminal expungements and also served as a law enforcement attorney. You should talk to an attorney in your jurisdiction about it. Nothing I am saying here should be construed as legal advice or something you should rely or act on, but as a point of hypothetical curiosity: 1) Law enforcement can see even sealed records sometimes (depending on a lot of factors; there's several sources of records potentially at the prosecutor's office, enforcement agency, court, social services...) (and that is often how many local agencies do their background checking, by using a local law enforcement agency), 2) you don't know what your official record is without some diligance, so an expert in criminal history expungement (in your jurisdiction) can tell you that and lay out options (don't just ask any lawyer, because even if they're a lawyer that doesn't mean they know diddly about expungements), 3) And also that person can guide you on the moral hazard of reporting and what your obligation is - takes away the anxiety of not knowing what the right thing to do is.