Arrest Warrant Over a Bounced Check
My question involves an arrest warrant from the State of: PA
Long story...sorry, but I don't know what to do.
I bought a motorcycle last year. It was on a "lay-away" plan to pay the bike off in 1 year. So, the next to last payment I wrote a check for $500. We got into an arguement because i figured I only had $325 left & the bike was paid-off. They told me No, I owed them an additional $487 in interest on top of that. I said that's not what my Bill of Sale says & the guy (obviously) screwed up & told me that they don't put it on there because they don't have a license to make "loans". I was PO'd & left.
When I went home, I called the PA Dept. of Consumer Affairs & the Office of the Attorney General. Both told me what they were doing was illegal & I only owed what was agreed upon on the Bill of Sale. So, a couple days later, I borrowed the $325 i owed in cash & took it up there & told them that if they didn't give me my bike i would turn them in to both authorities I spoke to since they told me they've done this before to "help people out" @ 12% interest! So, they end up very angrily giving me my bike which proceeded to blow up a month later & is a hunk of metal on my driveway because I don't trust them to fix it correctly or not screw me over somehow!
To the legal issue...
Well, I ended up being laid-off from my job & had to go through the process of starting to collect unemployment. In the meantime, the check I wrote for $500 to the dealer bounced. They sent me a letter to tell me that I owed them $509 & that if I didn't pay in 5 days they would file fraud charges against me. I wrote them back & told them I lost my job & couldn't afford the whole amount but I could send $50 every couple weeks when i got my unemployment. Well, 2 $50 payments later I got Bad Check criminal charges from the magistrate! How can they have a case when they accepted the agreement by cashing my checks!
Anyway, I had alot going on & thought my hearing was this past friday. I gathered up my paperwork to head out & realized it was actually on Wednesday! I called the magistrate's office & told them what happened & if I could come in to re-schedule. the staff told me I could only speak to the Constable because they already issued the Bench Warrant & there was nothing they could do about it! So, I got the Constable's number, called him & he told me the magistrate handed him a stack of warrants that AM & told him put them all in jail, including mine. I told him that I had the money to pay the warrant & could be there in 15 minutes. That I had 2 large dogs & noone to look after them if I went to jail & about how I already paid $100 of the check off! He told me that I was lucky that his boss let him off early or he would've put me in jail that day (this past Friday). I asked if the Magistrate was still in since the office (because the staff wouldn't tell me). He told me that he was on his way there now he would see what the judge had to say since I had the $ to pay. This was at 2:30pm on a holiday weekend. I waited & waited with a friend who was going to drive me & help me pay if the magistrate said OK. 3:40pm I called the Constable again. He told me the magistrate was in with someone & he was waiting to talk to him (but I thought earlier he told me he got off early for the day?). 3:50pm he calls me back & said Did you get the $500? I said yes. He said he would be at my house to pick me up Mon AM, I said, you mean Tuesday, right? Monday is a holiday. he said no, it didn't matter. He'd be there Monday to take me to the jail to drop me off & I would have to see a night court judge. Now, I know he wants to pick me up because he gets paid. Now I'm wondering if he gets time-and-a-1/2 for holidays or something.
I am not staying home to be picked up in the AM to go to jail for something that all I should have to do is walk into the magistrates when they open on Tuesday & have the warrant vacated & re-schedule my hearing & pay the $500! So, I am leaving the Constable a note that I will call him after I talk to my attorney. I did go up to the courthouse & make arrangements for a P.D. (I WANT to be at this hearing because the dealership is soooo wrong!)
Do you think the Constable wants to put me in jail so he can get credit & payment for "catching me" & more money for transporting me to the magistrates from the jail?
I've been in trouble 1 other time in my life & that was in 2004 (I'm 39) because I developed a opiate addiction after surgery & went down the usual path most addicts do until I ended up at a methadone clinic (I've been clean for 4 years thanks to the clinic), but if i don't go I will be VERY sick in jail & thrown out of the clinic. All the work putting my life baqck together down the drain!
I guess my question is...do you really think they will cart me off to jail if I walk in there & ask to see the judge with the money? I called 2 days later to turn myself in, no one had to look for me. I realized my mistake. It's not like it's been a month or 6 months of them chasing me down! I'm scared to death to go to jail!
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