I was arrested last night for contributing to a minor. My roommate was having a party (he's 18), there was a parking problem and the Police came. They arrested him for underage consumption. I was asleep in my room (it was after midnight) and they woke me up and arrested me saying that its my responsibility as a person over 21 to make sure anyone under 21 doesn't consume alcohol in my house. I'm on unsupervised probation for another 11 days. My court date is in a month. My question is whether to report it to my Probation Officer and snitch on myself or show up to court and hope she doesn't notice anything. Is it routine for a PO to check before somebodies probation ends? How much worse could it be if I just try and let it slide.

Yes, it is routine for the PO to do an extensive search prior to the termination of your probation. And yes, it will be a violation as you are supposed to report any arrests and/or police contact to your PO right away. The consequences would be that you would be violated and possibly have your probation revoked or extended or end up with jail time for your original conviction. Don't let it slide as that's a violation and you would only be shooting yourself in the foot while trying to run away from the probation officer.

It's up to you what you will do though and I hope you play it by the book as this could come back to haunt you in the near distant future.

If this is misdemeanor probation versus felony probation probably nothing adverse will happen to you BUT your PO needs to know since you were arrested (but not convicted).

Hello j:

I'd report it to your PO. However, I don't think you committed a crime. Contrary to what the cop said, you are NOT responsible for the behavior of another adult person.

excon