My questions is in regards to the state of: CA.
Hi,
I was convicted of a felony in February 2009 from a domestic violence incident in September. Apart from a DUI in 2004 that I was convicted of (misdemeanor, all court ordered classes and restitution completed but still on informal probation) I have no other criminal background. I have another post on the Expungement Forum that refers to this case.
I lost my job back in January and in April I started the interview process with a company. I had three extensive interviews, on April 21st, April 24th and May 5th, all lasting 2+ hours and the final one lasting 3 hours.
I was offered the position on the spot last week and was told I would be sent paperwork with the official offer. That did not happen until today.
The company's corp office is located in FL and I was asked after the first interview to fill out an online application, which I did. Under the "have you ever been..." section it asked for a crime, not a specific type (felony, misdemeanor). I disclosed the DUI from 2004 for obvious reasons. In CA they specifically ask for a felony conviction but on this application they did not. Not sure if it is a FL thing or not.
Fast forward to today, and along with the offer is another application that is similar to the one I initially filled out but it asks three specific questions regarding criminal history.
The District Manager called me to inform me he is emailing me the documentation and specifically mentioned they needed this second application that asks for further information on "past arrests". This signals to me that they may already know about this and are wanting me to come clean.
The three questions on this second application are:
- have you ever been arrested, charged, or convicted of a crime? (yes)
- have you ever entered a plea of "no contest" to a criminal charge? (no)
- have you ever entered into any type of pre-trial program to avoid prosecution of a criminal charge (??)
The last one I don't understand completely. I did enter a plea bargain as a result of this DV charge that resulted in a guilty conviction and 3 years probation. My crime is charged as a felony the first 12 months of probation (formal through Feb 2010) but upon completion of some court ordered classes it is reduced to a misdemeanor the remaining 24 months of probation (informal probation). A plea bargain is not the same as a pre-trial program is it?
On the offer sheet as well, it does state that the offer is contingent upon passing a drug test (no problem - no drugs ever), physical (shouldn't be a problem) and "acceptable results of a background check".
I thought I had dodged my background having gone through the 3 interviews over 3 weeks but it looks like I have no choice but to disclose this and let the powers that be make the decision.
My question is, how much should I disclose and what should I disclose? Should I put my attorney's contact information as a sign of openness if they want to investigate any further?
Any and all help would be appreciated - I have to return this by tomorrow and am nervous, hoping I don't blow it. I do not wish to lie however, especially since they stated they will conduct a background check and it will be disclosed one way or another.
Thank you!

