<p>Hey all I have a question</p>
<p>I wish to transfer to a 4 year school from my community college. On the application, they ask you about criminal charges and I don’t know how to answer.</p>
<p>The events leading up to my charges: I used to work for target. I bought a computer from a coworker who built custom PCs. One day I bought a new video card for that computer from Sam’s club. The video card sucked, so I returned it the next day. On the way home I noticed my brakes acting weird, so I drove slower than normal. At a place where the road was four lanes a big wal-mart truck passed me right before a light. I tried to stop, I stood on my brake pedal, but I couldn’t stop completely so I hit the truck’s rear bumber. It wasn’t serious, but he had been in accidents with people before, like once a woman hit him, then called walmart inc. to try to press charges against him. Once bitten twice shy is the name of the game, so he called the cops. The cop wrote “failure to reduce speed” on the citation, but said that I could have the charges reduces to “improper equipment” if I got a mechanic to write a statement saying that my brakes were faulty. I got my brakes fixed and got the mechanics statement. It was costly. I went to the DA’s place and talked to a lady at the desk. I presented the citation, the statement from the mechanic with proof of repair, and a paper from my insurance guy, and proof that I took the required defensive driving course (since I am under 21. I had to pay for the class, which was costly for a kid working for $6.25 an hour). I paid the lady a few hundred dollars for the court costs, and everything was okay regarding that. However, this isn’t all so easy. I didn’t have all the money for the computer when I bought it, so I paid him $500 as a down payment. I wasn’t expecting the accident or the several hundreds of dollars that went with it. I was broke, overdrawn-fee poor. The guy I bought the computer from was calling me up every week asking for the money I owed him. Keeping in mind that I only got paid every other week and that I was poor, I tried to pay him. I paid him $30 one week. He threatened to take me to small claims court eventually, and the stress really took its toll on me then. I had paid so many people so much money, and it was like I was working and not getting paid what with my paychecks going straight to other’s pockets every 2 weeks. The stress/fear of being poor got to me, and I stole from target. I put a mp3 player in a bag of stuff one day, and I made a $100 gift card, but didn’t put any money in the register. I bought a couple of dvds with that. I didn’t even want the stuff that bad, but again I was afraid of being poor again, so the new stuff assuaged my fears some. </p>
<p>Stupid idea. I got caught, and was fired for it. I volunatarily admitted to the asset protection lady everything I did. Since I was 18, the cops were called out. The cop did his thing, and the asset protection lady said that he would call me for fingerprinting/processing/setting a court date within the next month or so, but it could take up to an entire year. The cop assured me that they were getting their cases done within a month or so, but I should still call and check. For 3 months, I did. He even confirmed my phone number so he could call me when they were ready. </p>
<p>A year has passed, and I’ve heard nothing. The whole year, however, i’ve been getting sick to my stomach every time the phone at my house rings. i’m not a criminal, just a stupid person who did some very stupid things. I’m not excited of the prospect of going to court and being branded with a (probably) felony charge. Anyways, back to college. I don’t know what to put on the application. The questions are as follows:</p>
<li>Have you been convicted of a crime?
I guess not, because convictions occur in court.</li>
<li>Have you entered a plea of not guilty, no contest…etc…or a prayer for judgement continued, to a criminal charge?
no.</li>
<li>Have you otherwise accepted responsibility for the commission of a crime?
I suppose yes, because I told target that I stole from them.</li>
<li>Do you have any criminal charges pending against you?
Maybe? They never called me, but they still might. I guess I’m pending.</li>
<li>Have you been expelled, dismissed, …etc… from a school, college, or university?
no.</li>
<li>If you have ever served in the miltary, have you gotten a discharge other than honorable?
no.</li>
</ol>
<p>I don’t know how to answer…I tried to apply to Lowes hardware about a month after I was fired from targer and was sent a letter saying that I was rejected because of information a search pulled up on me stealing from my employer. Do colleges search for that kind of thing?</p>
<p>I’m sorry this post is so long, but I’ve never told anybody about my sins against target. I also hope I didn’t sound brash or “I’m better than the stupid system” in my response, I was trying to give a terse post. It ended up being about 30 pages long…</p>
<p>Please answer if you think you can help.</p>