1st Offense Shoplifting in NJ
Ok so my question is about a misdemeanor charge I received 2 years ago in the state of NJ. Basically what happened was I got caught with a friend shoplifting from a department store (my merchandise was under $50, hers was a little more). My friend decided to be very rude to the store security officers which probably made it worse then us paying for the items and being done with the whole thing. We ended up getting arrested, taken to the police station, fingerprinted and the whole 9. (no bail, jail, or anything else though). The police officer was very nice and told us that since it was our first offense just plead guilty pay the fine and then it would be taken off our records in a year if no other incidents occurred. Unfortunately we believed him. We both went to court, pled guilty, paid fines of around $500 and got sentenced for 60 hours of community service which we completed. Later come to find out (I have relatives that are attorneys, who I should have consulted with in the first place but I was so ashamed and upset at what I done I wanted to handle it myself) that the charge isn't going to be taken off and we have to wait 5 years to get it expunged. I am a recent college graduate and I know a background check is going to hinder future employment. It has already been 2 years and no other incidents have occurred (and aren't going to, I am very sorry for what happened and never plan on doing it again) My question is, is there any way to reopen the case perhaps with an attorney and get it lessened that way? Or do I have to wait the remaining 3 years and put in for expungement? Any advice would be appreciated. Again, I made a stupid mistake and learned from it, I just want it all to be over with. Why did the police officer lie and say it would be taken off within a year?
