Criminal Violations

Check with your Attorney General to see what procedures apply in your state for correcting your record because procedures will vary from state to state, even from county to county.  Here are a few general guidelines, though, that can be followed:

1. Contact the local law enforcement agency that was responsible for arresting the person who is using your identity.  Alternatively, you can check with the court agency that issued the warrant.

2. File an impersonation report to the law enforcement agency or the court and confirm your identity. 

3. Ask that the police compile evidence of your innocence to match against the impersonator by taking a full set of fingerprints, a photograph of yourself, and make copies of any of your photo ID documents.

4. Make sure the impersonation report is sent wherever the conviction originated if it didn’t happen in your local law enforcement’s jurisdiction.  You will then receive a "clearance letter" or what is called a "certificate of release."

5.    Ask that the resolved case be filed with the district attorney’s office in the region where the crime took place.  That way, all the departments are on the same page, and there won’t be any confusion later on down the road.

6.    Ask that the "key name" or "primary name" be changed from yours to the imposter's in the database and court records.  Contact your District of Attorney's office to find out how to get those records.  Make sure your name is noted as an alias next to the criminal’s so he can’t use your name again.

7.    Contact your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to make sure your driver’s license isn’t being used by the identity thief.  Regardless, have your files flagged for possible fraud in case something does come up, it will be caught much faster.

Once your name has gone into a criminal database, it is unlikely that it will ever be completely removed.  There will be no crime associated with your name, but if you try to get a job somewhere that does background checks, the issue may come up. 

Just explain to the employer the situation, and there should be no problem.  If the employer is hesitant, you can pull out your records from the case such as your clearance letter to validate you innocence.  Of all frauds, never throw away your papers from a criminal fraud case.