Great.. I have a warrant..

I was reading a post on how to locate a lost friend and ended up playing with the background search.. Along with many other oddities this thing found it said I had a warrant in Ferndale Michigan..
I am a dual citizen, I hold an American citizenship as well as Canadian, I have lived in many states including Michigan. I have never had so much as a speeding ticket!!
I called the Ferdale (8 mile road in Detroit) Police department and learned this.. Someone using my name and birthdate received a fine for something small, normally just a fine, but apparently there was a court date attached to this... When I (whoever I was) never showed up it became a "failure to appear" and resulted in a warrant!
It would really suck to cross the border with my family only to be yanked and held, then sent to Ferndale to serve out the warrant.. The wonderful and helpful Police department said all I could do is turn myself in and let a judge figure it out..
I am freaking out here.. :help:

Maybe you should try contacting the DA's office in the county where Ferndale is.

Explain it to them and see what can be done.

Good Luck.

Get a good lawyer and handle this. I really ticks me off that there are sorry b@st@rds on this earth!! This is gonna cost alot of money for you.

I would get a second opinion from higher authorites, than from some city kitty. (Sorry about the CB slang)

-PSM

Find legal representation and have them handle it. Make sure they understand this is a case of identity theft.

If there is someone here who can run a background check on me to see if there are any details I may need to know please contact me for my SS# or B-date.. I can't do that from here..

It was a "possesion of drug paraphernalia", and the warrant resulted for failure to appear for sentencing.. Is this a fine thing or would a mugshot have been taken at the time..?

There were some oddities in the info I got off the computer, my concern is that there is more..

How can you be a citizen of two countries at the same time?

Pydpiper,

It's a good thing you didn't try to take an international flight, your status could have been upgraded to "Fleeing Felon" and you might be greeted in the US with federal handcuffs!!
Hopefully someone with at least half a brain can straighten this out for you.

eluminator said:

How can you be a citizen of two countries at the same time?

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I have what is called a "dual citizenship". I can live in either country with full citizen of the country I reside in. Currently I am a Canadian Citizen with an American citizenship. I was born in the USA, when my parents split I moved to Canada where my Mother was a Citizen.
That same action in todays laws would require the person to "denounce" one of their citizenships, but in the era this took place the law was different, and allowed me to carry my current status of "dual" If I move my Canadian family to the USA they could also become citizens of the USA, but would lose their Canadian Citizenship.

Lets get back on track, I have a feeling my family Florida vacation may have a hurdle..

leukos said:

Pydpiper,

It's a good thing you didn't try to take an international flight, your status could have been upgraded to "Fleeing Felon" and you might be greeted in the US with federal handcuffs!!
Hopefully someone with at least half a brain can straighten this out for you.

Click to expand...

I have crossed the border many many times, in a car, .. My Dad lives in Michigan and I at one point used to go almost every weekend.. Detroit is only an hour or two from me.

I have no problem going through the process of being arrested and riding this out, I just want to do it on my time, not theirs. How could something like this happen..

Absolutely get a lawyer to handle it, while you stay in Canada. If you go there to try to straighten it out, you can never tell what might happen.

I have called for counsel, I am looking at $1500 US just to get started, and frankly, that is not possible..
I could handle a $500 bond, and that is what the lady at the PD said would probally happen.. If of course honesty is being applied..

I'm not sure that $500 bond will hold true if you plan on returning to Canada. I would proceed with extreme caution or this may cost you a lot more than $1500 USD.

I would just never go back to Michigan.

Edit: Oops, just saw the part that your Dad lives there. Sorry.

It's too bad Chop is MIA, I think he is a lawyer and maybe could give some free advice.

Is there a chance that the person with the warrant just has the same name as you? Do the police have a social security number or something?

Wish I could be of more help.....

Marc

I have no idea what the person provided the police..
I called them back again to see if I could figure anything else out, the person not only had my name but my date of birth as well.
The officer on the phone said that it was just a ticket that was issued. It was lack of follow-up that resulted in a warrant. He also said if I can dodge customs at the border and get to the station it would be wise to do so before noon monday to friday, that way I can see the judge same day. If it is just a fine then I will deal with it, I just don't know if that is the case.

this is serious $**t. I'd be freaking out too. Can you present documents that can certify where you were (hopefully in Canada) when the ticket was issued? I know immigration officials can search your record of entries/departures. Yeah, if they had a mugshot of the b@$tard, they could see it's not you... but common sense is not the most common of senses, as they say...

Best luck!

If I was in Canada at the time and probally was, there would be no record of that.
A typical border crossing from US to Canada goes like this..
Them- Where are you going?
Me- My Dads
Them- for how long?
me- don't know yet.
them- are you bringing any gifts or alcohol?
me- no
them- drive safely..

I think I am going to have to take this on the chin and deal with the punishment, how bad could it be? I do not want to go through the cost and aggrivation of fighting it.

If you want to do this without lawyers, here is what I would do. You understand what "legal advice" on the Internet is worth, of course...

1. Find out and confirm from the Clerk of the court, and the cops, what the fine for the original offense was, the bench warrant, and how much bail would be.

Showing up on your own recognisance should go a long way twoards proving "good faith" to the court.

Find out what form of payment is acceptable should you "lose", (espeicaly other than cash, should you have a border or US Police run-in on your way to court, and the cash be confiscated.) If bank or cashiers checks made out in U.S. funds (obviously) to the appropriate court and agencies are acceptable, that would be the best. If/when you "win", just cancel them.

If you were in Canada when the offence took place, bring pay stubs, credit card recipts, bills, mail, or a timesheet from work. (Perhaps your employer's HR department can help you. Just explain it's identity theft, and you need to prove you were in Canada at the time, don't get into details.) Barring any of that, get signed affidavits, preferably from non-family, such as co-workers, a landlord, etc. stating you were in Canada at the time and it couldn't possibly have been you.

A reasonably helpful judge would look at all that and clear it all up rather quickly.

DON"T ACCEPT THE PUNISHMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At this point, you have both Canadian and American citizenship... We can probably assume that they will not take either away from you.

However, if you want to travel outside of your current country, many nations have laws that prevent "criminals" from entry. In the US, that includes minor pot busts with $100 fines.

There was a recent news article about a Canadian man that was barred entry recently to the US even though he had been in the US many times before 9/11. This last time, he was refused (with his family on the way to Florida).

This is not the article I was trying to find, but it does talk about the horrors of trying to cross the US/Canada border in either direction (from what I have read before, this article seems to ring pretty true).

The US has also long criticized Canada for its refusal to wage an all-out war against marijuana. For several years, US drug agents have alleged that billions of dollars worth of Canadian cannabis, primarily grown in British Columbia, was flooding into America. Now that the Canadian judicial system and some elected officials are openly suggesting that Canada liberalize its marijuana laws, US officials are routinely attempting to interfere in Canada's internal affairs by telling the Canadian government not to loosen its pot laws.

US actions have poisoned the relationship it has with its northern neighbor. Canada has responded by instituting strict, 100% enforcement of already-existing Canadian immigration restrictions that disallow anyone with any type of criminal record, even if just a misdemeanor marijuana possession conviction, from entering Canada.
...
"The rules that say a person cannot enter Canada with any type of misdemeanor or felony have been in place a long time, but they were not enforced uniformly," explained a spokeswoman at the Canadian embassy in Washington, DC. "But after 9-11, Canada was accused of inadvertently assisting terrorists because of its immigration policies, and our citizens found themselves subjected to a great deal of scrutiny as they attempted to cross the border into the US. It is unfortunate to describe it this way, but it appears that our policymakers decided that we would treat American citizens as badly as our citizens were being treated. Now, if you have a criminal record of any kind, it is likely you will be caught due to an extensive computerized information-sharing agreement between the two governments, and you will be refused entry."

But it is not just Canadian border agents who are now running records checks and turning away US citizens trying to enter Canada. In many cases, US officials are harassing US citizens trying to re-enter their own home country, conducting warrantless searches of people, their possessions, and their vehicles with no respect for due process or common civility.

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I am not connected in any way with the law or border enforcement, and I am not trying to scare folks. However, I would not travel outside of your home country (where your family is) until you have this record cleared from your name. And, I would carry a notarized document from the local police/court that states that this was a case of identity fraud and you never were the subject of this warrant/conviction.

Assuming that this is not you--please, please, please, fight this for all that it is worth (or be prepared to remain in Canada for fear of expulsion every time you travel).

Good Luck,
-Bill