Vandalism Charges for Tagging

[guiltyneo]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: California.

Hi all! About 1 year ago i was expelled from a community college for "tagging". they brought an officer in to question me and he ended up letting me go. the school said that a girl saw me tagging on a wall and they had multiple pictures of me walking into bathrooms where other supposed taggings happened. so now im trying to get a new job and i did a background check and they said i had a warrant for my arrest?! what exactly am i looking at? will i have to stay in prison??

[PTPD22]

If the warrant is for vandalism, it is a misdemeanor. So, prison is not on the table. If this is your first offense, even any significant jail time is unlikely. However, you are subject to arrest on the warrant any time you have contact with police. You should contact an attorney and arrange your surrender on the warrant and release on bail.

[guiltyneo]

i dont understand how they can issue warrants without notifying people. as far as i know no charges were brought against me

[PTPD22]

I'm sure notice of the warrant was sent. It would have been sent to whatever address the police had for you at the time of the incident. That was likely to be the address on your driver's license. If you have moved and not updated your address, they aren't going to worry about it and just wait for the warrant to catch up to you. Of course it is possible that the notice was sent to the wrong address due to clerical error. But, either way, the fact that you did not receive notice does not invalidate the warrant in any way.

[indybail]

Did you change addresses after being expelled? That would explain the lack of having a current address for you.

[cdwjava]

i dont understand how they can issue warrants without notifying people. as far as i know no charges were brought against me

All you KNOW is that they released you after questioning. That does NOT mean no charges were not, or would not be filed with the DA. Clearly, if there is a warrant, they DID forward the case to the DA who then filed the charges.

If the costs to repair or replace the damage exceeded $400, then it is a felony and prison would theoretically be possible (though not at all likely). Most likely you will have a suspended sentence, probation, community services, and a host of fines, fees, and restitution to pay.

Oh, and there is no legal obligation for the state to notify people that a warrant exists for them. Most counties don't do that, and often the first inkling a person has that there is a warrant is when the police contact them and arrest them.

You might want to check for yourself to see if a warrant was issued. Your county might have that information (on warrants and court actions) on-line through the county court's website. It may very well be that the background check had incorrect information.