fraud. notice to appear in Ca. what to do?help

my friend made a copy of my ski pass and got caught. They arrested him, I wasn't but they took my pass. he goes to court monday march 19(this happened over a month ago), now i got sent a notice saying something to the effect that i have to appear or something on a later date march 26 i think (i didn't open it, my mom read it to me over the phone). why are they doing this now? why didn't they arrest me then? do i have to go? what if i lived abroad and never got this? how can they punish me if i never got it? what do i do? thanks.

Just because you weren't arrested at the time doesn't mean they can't press charges later. This seems a very minor offense---just go to court and take your chances.

Better yet, for a paltry $12.95 you can call and ask a REAL attorney what to do---check out the top post "how to get good legal advice"