Sorry for a long story...

[FelixTheCat]

How can I find out if I have outstanding warrant in LA, CA?
The story is... I got "seatbelt" ticket, went trough court hearing (was late responding), paid fines and forgot it... till I had the same fine back in the mail!!! I went to courthouse with receipt and the clerk told me that it was a mistake, the ticket was filed with 2 different police agencies in the same time, and told me that he took care of it... I've lived in Germany for 5 years already and accidently figured it out (doing background check) that I still have this ticket (with "hold" status), it is in collection and amount owned is huge... I called the court, clerk found the ticket and asked me if I have a proof of payment and I told him why I didn't. He suggested to pay the fine. In a couple of weeks ticket dissapeared from collection agency's web site. I called them - they told me they have no record of it. I called court, told the same story to the different clerk and asked him if I have a warrant. After putting me on hold he told me that they have no ticket and warrant under my DL#.
Can I trust the clerk? It is very strange... Maybe I'll get a surprise renewing my passport when it'll be late?

[seniorjudge]

Q: How can I find out if I have outstanding warrant in LA, CA?

A: The sheriff's office should run an outstanding warrant check if you go there and ask. I am NOT from California; stand by for some CA folks who will either affirm or deny this info.

[FelixTheCat]

I' ve lived in Germany for 5 years already... The LA Sheriff's office has no possibility to check it online... I am not sure they will answer me by telefone also.

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by FelixTheCat

I' ve lived in Germany for 5 years already... The LA Sheriff's office has no possibility to check it online... I am not sure they will answer me by telefone also.

If you cannot go there in person, you will probably have to hire a lawyer.

Or you could always run a background check on yourself.

[FelixTheCat]

Sorry, I mean LA Sheriff's office web site has no option to check it on-line...

[outonbail]

No one here will have any way of knowing whether or not there is an outstanding warrant for your arrest or not. We will not have any way of knowing what may be in the collection agencies records either.

If you called the sheriff and their most recent response was that nothing shows up, I would just go with that and forget about it.

But either way, this seat belt ticket is not something to lose sleep over even if you lived here. Since your in Germany, it's absolutely ridiculous to worry about it.

If and when you return to California, you can show up at the court house in person and ask the clerk if there's any reference to it in your record. Or just go to DMV and apply for your new California drivers license and they will tell you if there's a problem.

[FelixTheCat]

Thanks a lot to you all for your answers and for not ignoring me... I worry about renewing my passport, that's the problem right now...