Re-entry to the states with bench warrent

joeblogggs69 · 11-06-2015 09:21AM #1

I was on holidays in the Ocean City, MD in 2011. I was arrested for a noise violation (incorrectly – as I wasn't a tenant on the lease of the premises).

Anyway, I was brought to the police station, stayed over night and in the morning was given a court date. In my youthful wisdom, I skipped it for the following reasons:

At the time of arrest the only I.D. I had on me was a cancelled passport. So the details on this were limited. I now have a new PP with a different PP number.

Also, the arresting officer possibly took my DOB down wrong.

The court date was after my flight home.

I assume that because I skipped the court there is a now a bench warrant out for my arrest. This leads me to my first question.. Is this for the state of Maryland only or would it be Nationwide?

Secondly, as the officer had no proof of me being on the lease of the premises where it was said the noise violation happened - is it possible it was "thrown out of court"?

I have to travel to New York for work in the near future. Will I be stopped by immigration upon entry?

Surely a contempt of court on a noise violation is not in federal wide databases?

Any advice/info/past experiences please?

Cheers,

joe

Dave1442397 · 11-06-2015 11:51AM

I doubt this would be an issue at this point. As a non-resident, they probably filed it under 'waste of time and effort' if they didn't just toss it completely. Either way, it would be a local thing, and should not appear in any Federal database.

Don't say a word about it and you should breeze right thru immigration.

rocky911 · 11-06-2015 11:54AM

joeblogggs69 wrote: »

I was on holidays in the Ocean City, MD in 2011. I was arrested for a noise violation (incorrectly – as I wasn't a tenant on the lease of the premises).

Anyway, I was brought to the police station, stayed over night and in the morning was given a court date. In my youthful wisdom, I skipped it for the following reasons:

At the time of arrest the only I.D. I had on me was a cancelled passport. So the details on this were limited. I now have a new PP with a different PP number.

Also, the arresting officer possibly took my DOB down wrong.

The court date was after my flight home.

I assume that because I skipped the court there is a now a bench warrant out for my arrest. This leads me to my first question.. Is this for the state of Maryland only or would it be Nationwide?

Secondly, as the officer had no proof of me being on the lease of the premises where it was said the noise violation happened - is it possible it was "thrown out of court"?

I have to travel to New York for work in the near future. Will I be stopped by immigration upon entry?

Surely a contempt of court on a noise violation is not in federal wide databases?

Any advice/info/past experiences please?

Cheers,

joe

Was it one of the lads on the bike caught ya?

Should be any hassle, happened one of the lads with us as well in Ocean City, think it was for being drunk on the boardwalk, something stupid anyway like that he bounced and now is regularly flying between New York, Chicago and Dublin.

Be grand

silja · 11-06-2015 12:14PM

Afaik, the noise complaint goes on who makes the noise/ is present, they need not be the owner/ tenant of the property.
But I don't think you'll have any trouble flying in and doing your work thing. It MAY come up if you ever apply for a work/ immigration visa, or apply for something requiring credit (rent a home in the USA, buy a car etc).

joeblogggs69 · 11-06-2015 12:26PM

@dave That's the plan!! Hope NSA aren't monitoring Boards though haha

@Rocky Yeah it was actually ha They've got a right chip on their shoulder

@silja There was a house party. That was the noise complaint, so they just pinned it on the tenants regardless if they were loud or not.

Cheers for the replys. I plan on saying nothing anyway and "shur t'will be grand;".. although it was that saying that got me in this situation in the first place! :-p

Joe

rocky911 · 11-06-2015 01:07PM

joeblogggs69 wrote: »

@dave That's the plan!! Hope NSA aren't monitoring Boards though haha

@Rocky Yeah it was actually ha They've got a right chip on their shoulder

@silja There was a house party. That was the noise complaint, so they just pinned it on the tenants regardless if they were loud or not.

Cheers for the replys. I plan on saying nothing anyway and "shur t'will be grand;".. although it was that saying that got me in this situation in the first place! :-p

Joe

Apparently those plebs are working on a performance rating, they get taking on for the season and then the top 10/15 get made permanent. Actually got to know one fella even use to stop by at our place on 5th street. Era sure look be grand

iusedtoknow · 11-06-2015 09:41PM

silja wrote: »

Afaik, the noise complaint goes on who makes the noise/ is present, they need not be the owner/ tenant of the property.
But I don't think you'll have any trouble flying in and doing your work thing. It MAY come up if you ever apply for a work/ immigration visa, or apply for something requiring credit (rent a home in the USA, buy a car etc).

It could also come up if he goes to MD and gets pulled over for a traffic violation and they run the name...

Wompa1 · 18-06-2015 06:52AM

Don't go back to Maryland :-)

I had a warrant out for my arrest for missing a court appearance in Arizona. I didn't receive the mail to notify me of the court date.

Anyhow, I only found out about the warrant when I called about something else. I got it quickly sorted out but in between the time of having the warrant and not knowing about it. I flew in and out of the country a couple of times. If I got pulled over, I would have gone to jail.

A guy I worked with went to jail for running a red light and missing his court appearance. This was years after. He also didn't get the mail...his was because he got divorced and it went to his ex-wife who didn't tell him. He ended up spending 2 days in Jail.

bbbbb · 18-06-2015 06:56AM

Are you posting this query on the same PC you did your ESTA application?

Re-entry to the states with bench warrent

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