dismissed felony & trying to become a RN

Nurses Criminal

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Hi everyone, I'm new to this so bare with me please!

2 years ago I was charged with a felony (obtaining property by false pretense) the charge was dismissed last year never did any jail time & I'm in the process of getting it expunged right now. I'm in school now taking my pre reqs for nursing now I haven't appliedto theprogram yet. the lady let meknow if Ididn't have mycharges expunged by the time I apply that they will basically question meabout it & it mayprevent me from getting in. I''ve also talked to the BON & she said having an expunged record wouldn't prevent me from obtaining my license as long as I provide my court documents. My question is once I receive my RN license will I be able to get a job at a hospital or anywhere period??

I was charged because I did a return for a customer who didn't have her receipt & she used a fake id. at the time I didn't know she had a fake id until management caught her trying to return something later that week & they didn't believe that I had nothing to do with her returning anything with a fake id...long story short I got fired & charged but the case got dismissed because they had no evidence & the police never even filed the report.

if anyone has been in a similar situation or has any type of background & is now working as a nurse please comment.. no negative comments plz

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Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.

I don't understand how you could be charged if the police never filed a report, but that's beside the point.

Every job application I've ever filled out ask about felony convictions, not arrests.

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well idk whether to call it a charge or just an arrest but when I started at a new job they did a background check & it showed up as dismissed by the DA & it said police never filed report. that didn't prevent me from getting the job (factory) I just had to explain what happened. I know I haven't been convicted of anything & that arrest is the only thing on my record, I just don't wanna continue to go through the time & money with school if in the end I won't even be able to get a job.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

The fact that whatever it was has been dismissed is good for you. Most places only care about whether you were convicted. However, some places--and BONs--do want to know if you've ever been arrested or charged, even if nothing came of it.

We can't offer legal advice, so if you're not sure how to address this on job applications, you need to talk to a lawyer.

Good luck.

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thank you so much @merriwhen & MrChicagoRN I was really becoming discouraged until you guys responded to my post! I also spoke with hr at the local hospital & they do regular background checks instead of fingerprints so maybe getting this expunged isn't a waste after all. that's basically all I needed to know & for everything else I'll speak with my lawyer

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