My question involves criminal records for the state of: FLORIDA. Many questions seem the same and I was looking for an answer to another but didn't quite find the circumstances.
Like a few others, I have had to apply for jobs in fields other than the one I called my career for over thirty yeas. I am in my sixties and looking is tough enough without having a blemish on your record so it is hard to tell whether I am getting passed over for age, experience (or lack of) or the record.
In 1974, I was arrested and charged with 4 counts of sale/4 counts of possession of a controlled substance (pot). I had never been arrested for anything before that. I was in my early twenties. My employer bailed me out
and loaned me money for defense counsel. That doesn't happen these days!
A year later I was given 5 years probation (which I was released from after about 2 years) and the court withheld adjudication of guilt.
In the 80s, I had the matter sealed.
Each employer is different about these questions but some use every angle to know, one way or another, if you have ever broken the law in any way.
I want to know if something as old as this (A)shows as an arrest on a background check, (B) if the matter of the proceedings is revealed as ever having happened (C) if I can answer the question about a "conviction" with NO and be truthful?
On some applications, employers ask if you have ever pleased guilty or nolo contendre to a felony charge? So, if the decision of the court was adjudication withheld based on Nolo Contest -even though there was no conviction, do you still have to answer YES?
Further, some applications ask about pleadings and convictions to misdemeanors and request dates. Throughout my life, I have had dozens of traffic cases and sorry, I didn't keep a log.(1)How important is it that you be precise with the answers to that kind of question? (2) Would it be worth it to get these records expunged even though they are sealed? I mean I don't have too many years left to work.

(1)How important is it that you be precise with the answers to that kind of question? (2) Would it be worth it to get these records expunged even though they are sealed? I mean I don't have too many years left to work.
