Could my criminal history be grounds to bar me from license in California

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I'm currently 21 in a BSN program and have made a couple mistakes that I'm afraid will come back to bite me when I apply for licensure. At the age of 16 I was charged with driving without a license, driving without insurance, and duty upon striking a fixture. At the time I did not know how to challenge the charges so I simply pleaded guilty and received around $200 in fines that I paid in full. Then at age 19 I was charged with shoplifting a $2 item from Walmart. I agreed to sign an agreement with the judge as part of a pre-trial diversion. I was required to stay out legal trouble for 3 months as part of an unsupervised probation. I did not have any further run ins with the law during those 3 months or for the past 2 years and both cases have been dismissed. I never went to jail or was fingerprinted and my FBI rap sheet shows "no records found." Can the California BRN deny a license over dismissed traffic citations and a theft of an item that was valued at only 2 dollars? Can they find these charges if they occurred in another state and are not in the FBI's database? I'm asking for advice from someone who knows anything about the BRN in CA. I have read many threads on here of people who have had worse offenses and got approval in CA unrestricted. I have also read stories of people who made innocent mistakes, and were initially denied.

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Specializes in Varied.

Were you criminally charged for the theft? It doesn't matter whether it was just $2.

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Yep. But I'm planning not to disclose it because it doesn't come up on an FBI background check. I did one on myself.

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Were you criminally charged for the theft? It doesn't matter whether it was just $2.

Did you read my whole post? I answered this question. And yes, I think there is a difference between theft of $2 and something else of substantially greater value, say a car. The board of nursing in my state only does a fingerprint-based background check through the FBI and state criminal repository. I have already done background checks on myself through those means and both have come back clean. And the application for an RN license in my state only asks about felony convictions, so I can honestly answer no regardless. But I will be applying to other states afterwards for licensure without disclosing it since my crime was not reported to the FBI.

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California BRN asks for ALL convictions including misdemeanors even if they were dismissed or expunged or a diversion program has been http://www.rn.ca.gov/pdfs/applicants/instruct_exam.pdf

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California BRN asks for ALL convictions including misdemeanors even if they were dismissed or expunged or a diversion program has been http://www.rn.ca.gov/pdfs/applicants/instruct_exam.pdf

I saw that. But they also check through the FBI and their CA DOJ. These charges were out of state so they are not going to come up in a CA state background check and I don't have a criminal record with the FBI.

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Try one of those $50 online background checks. My fingerprint check has 2 charges but my state checks are clear. It was military.

If your background and state checks are clean, then you're good. If you tell them, they'll ask for a ton of paperwork and possibly deny you. Why risk it?

In boot camp, we called this the "idiot test". If you got to boot camp...your background check was already approved. They sit the recruits in a classroom and a scary Chief comes in screaming about the 5 files he has on his desk for review. The nonexistant files are criminal records for liars in the room. This is your last chance to confess to crimes or it will be much worse if he has to find you. Every time a bunch of kids with expunged records admit to their convictions and end their military career before it even starts.

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On a separate note, what's the point of getting a charge expunged if you plan on admitting to it later? I'm not sure if the moral police on this board realize this piece of human nature. If it's not on your record....it didn't happen. That's why we have fingerprint checks and online background checks instead of just asking us on the applications. BECAUSE EVERYBODY WOULD LIE!

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Your subsequent posts indicated you knew your answers when you started the thread and none of us can speak for the CA BRN, so you really should direct any questions you might have directly to the BRN, or, act on the knowledge you already possess.

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What information the public (you) can see is different than what the Board of Nursing can see. Your $2 theft charge would not be public, but that doesn't mean the BON won't find it. If you lie, you may create an even bigger issue.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

The juvenile offense shouldn't be an issue, especially if you were able to get your records sealed.

Yep. But I'm planning not to disclose it because it doesn't come up on an FBI background check. I did one on myself.

Honestly, I wouldn't try that. Yes, there's a chance you could get away with it...but it's more likely that you won't. You really don't know what tools the BRN has their disposal when it comes to background checks. They've got some big guns at their disposal. So the fact that it didn't turn up in YOUR search won't mean it's not going to turn up in theirs. Or perhaps they won't find it at first, but it may turn up in a later search.

It's not so much the shoplifting charge that would hold you back with the BRN--there's a lot of nurses who have theft convictions who were able to get/keep their licenses. What would be the problem is the BRN discovering on their own something that you should have told them. BRNs consider that falsification of your information, and BRNs really hate nurses that lie. The penalty for such things is usually greater than if the nurse had disclosed it in the beginning.

You could contact the BRN--do it anonymously if you prefer--and ask for more information.

If you want to take your chances and not disclose, that's up to you. I can't say I recommend it.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

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What I can see in my FBI check is what the Board of nursing can see.

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