Not political... request for Legal advice in Jersey

[Tree]

Wow.... how far off topic of sailing than this.

Sorry about the long story.

Seven years ago, my wife and I hosted an exchange student from France. We really enjoyed the experience. He was a great kid and he caused absolutely no problems for us and was a lot of fun.
Unfortunately over the past years, we have not always done a good job of staying in contact.
This last year though we have committed to try to do a better job of writing each other. It was then that I learned from him that a couple of years after his year living with us, he had another opportunity to travel to the US. (this would be about 5 years ago) He was somewhere near an amusement park in New Jersey and had an incident that he still fears may cause him a lot of trouble.
Here is his story:
One evening, he and an American friend who had recently turned 21 were out at a sea side bar enjoying a few beers. He’s not a heavy drinker. He’s French. He comes from a country where there are much more relaxed laws concerning the drinking age. It’s not the big deal to him that it is to American kids. Beer is not his beverage of choice. Anyway…….. Needing to relieve himself, he headed for the facilities only to find a long line.
Being a bit desperate and not wanting to embarrass himself, he headed outside and found a very secluded place out toward the ocean where there were no houses. It was a place where there were large sand dunes. Feeling reasonably discrete, he let go. Mid-stream, bright lights suddenly came on. ….ah, It seems the local police patrol these areas to stop this type of major crime. They had seen him leave the bar and had followed him. They issued him a citation and warned him that he must show up for court. He did as instructed. He pled guilty thinking that what he had done was not a big deal. The judge gave him a fine of $650.00. Yikes!!!
He was a poor college student at the time, his parents were in the middle of a divorce, his father had recently lost his job……This trip had been done on a shoe-string budget. He had very little cash left,
He was scheduled to fly home in a couple of days and he simply did not have that amount of money or any way to get it. He asked if he could pay it in installments. Or, could he pay part now and the remainder when he could?
They told him if he did not pay, there would be warrant issued for his arrest. They gave him no options.
He speaks English very well. But, even after a year of living here, he still would occasionally get tripped up understanding things. There is a significant difference in culture and the way things works. I’m not sure if he was able to really communicate his dilemma in court. Or perhaps they didn’t care…. to them, he was just some French kid that liked to pee on their beach.
He felt trapped and that he had no way to resolve this situation. He left the court, left the area, kept a low profile for the next couple of days and got on his plane and flew home.
Now he feels like he can never come back to the United States.
So, the question is…… anyone have any experience with this kind of thing? Suggestions?
Is his name in a computer somewhere and if he tried to come back to the U.S. the moment he steps off the plane, he’ll be arrested? (what with homeland security and all)
Or, is there a statute of limitations on something like this. If he waits long enough, will the problem go away? Is there a way to find out?
What if he wanted to settle up with them? He’s still struggling financially but does want to know his options. How do you find out if this is possible?
Would there be addition fines or interest above and beyond the original fine? How would a person find out that? Hire a lawyer? That sounds like even more money and not a realistic option for him.
I’d like to help but I’m located on the other side of the continent. I have no idea about how to investigate these kinds of things.
To me, this whole thing sounds like some small town scam where the local police target tourists or the unsuspecting and levy outrageous fines to feed the city finances. But as they say, you can’t fight city hall.
Not a wise thing to do, but after he got back to France, angry about all of it, he threw the "papers" they had given him away. So, he doesn’t have any paper work, court numbers or anything. Ah youth.
Thoughts anyone?

[Zanshin]

The crime committed was a misdemeanor. At most there is an open warrant in NJ, and there won't be anything federal. How many years ago did this occur? If more than 5 years there certainly won't be any record.

One easy way for him to check is to apply for a tourist visa, even though he is elegible to travel under the visa waiver program. The Visa will take a couple of weeks to process, he'll have to supply a picture and it will cost over $100, but part of the process involves checking for open warrants and the visa will be denied if there are any problems. If the visa is approved then he should have no qualms about travelling to the USA - immigration uses the same computer system to check.

Nevertheless he might be wise not to fly into Newark and certainly to avoid getting pulled over while in NJ.

[T34C]

You could place a phone call to the local Prosicuter in NJ,explain the situation and say that "now that your friend is older he realizes he shouldn't have done it,.... what does he need to do to rectify the situation." He is in France and cannot apear, ie. be arrested. They may be will to work something out simply to clear the case off the books.

[WouldaShoulda]

Uromisitisis strikes again!!

[sailingdog]

Unless he was convicted of something more than urinating in public....chances are pretty good that it was just a misdemeanor and as such, he can probably travel here without much worry. However, I would highly recommend that he take care of any outstanding fines. The application for a visa would be a good litmus test.

[sailhog]

Typical French... They come over here with their parlez-vous blah blah blah and start PEEING ON EVERYTHING THAT'S GOOD AND WHOLESOME!