Arrest in 2004 keeping me from obtaining RN License?

[fartjohnson]

Hello,

I am a recently-graduated RN who passed the NCLEX and applied for my license just a few weeks ago. Today I received a letter from my state's board of professional regulation, only to find that I had not received my license due to a "deficiency".

Specifically, an arrest on my record from 2004 came up during the background check. When I was 15 I had stolen a couple graphing calculators from my high school and was subsequently arrested. This never went to court, I never entered a plea of any kind, I was never found guilty--I'm not even sure I was charged. Rather, I was arrested, released 6 hours later, and that was pretty much it. My school's resource officer had me do 20 hours of community service, and I never heard anything from it ever again. I have since undergone 5-10 background checks and come up clear every time. I never thought to mention this on my application for my RN license since I wasn't convicted of anything and I was a minor at the time.

I will freely admit: I was a young, dumb, rebellious teenager. I'm embarrassed to admit that I did something as stupid and selfish as stealing, but at the time I thought it was "cool". I have not experienced any legal troubles since then--I haven't even gotten a speeding ticket in over 10 years!!! Regardless, this arrest could possibly keep me from realizing my dream of becoming an RN.

On the letter I received, it asked me to explain the circumstances of my arrest and re-send my application.

Does anyone have any advice for me? Should I seek legal counsel? Is this likely to lead to a denial of my application? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

TL;DR - got arrested for petty theft 13 years ago. Never went to court for it. No legal troubles since then. RN application was sent back because of this.

[fartjohnson]

Well, I guess nobody had any advice to share. That's ok--I got my license regardless.

Hopefully others in a similar situation can learn from my experience. Here's what I did:

1) I researched the legal policies that would guide the decision of the licensing board. The policies for my state were easily found online, and the following section was relevant to my situation:

The following criminal history records shall not be considered in connection with an application for licensure:

1) Juvenile adjudications;

2) Records of arrest not followed by a conviction;

3) Convictions overturned by a higher court;

4) Convictions that have been the subject of a pardon or expungement.

The first two components of this section were both applicable to my situation, and so I was sure to mention that in the letter I wrote.

2) I went to the County Clerk and obtained a legal document verifying that there was no criminal record for the year of 2004

3) I included the volunteer-hour records that I amassed since that time--over 400 hours in total

4) I wrote a concise letter that included the following: a description of the situation leading to the arrest, an explanation of why I didn't include it on my original application, and a few sentences describing why I felt like I would make a good nurse

Overnight mailing would have cost $24, so I went for the next-best option: Priority Express. Big mistake. It took a WEEK to travel 150 miles to the destination. Don't make my mistake--spare no expense when it comes to an important letter like this. It arrived Tuesday, February 28 and I just got my license today, March 10.

I was never really in doubt that my license would be issued, for the legal code in my state specified that my arrest was not grounds for a denial, but I was worried that it would take a long time to process. I'm thankful that the good folks at my state's licensing board granted me my license in a timely manner.

If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Mainly, I'm just hoping that someone in a future situation comes across this post and gets some hope for their situation. I never paid a lawyer--just did my research and did the best I could.

Have a good weekend everyone! You already know mine is gonna be GREAT

[efranklin2]

Thanks a ton for this post! I was arrested (harmless) with no conviction and it is good to know that they cannot exclude me from being registered because of that offense.