Florida Criminal Records and Background Checks
If you were to ask the Florida Department of Law Enforcement ("FDLE") to do a background check on either yourself or someone else, that department would search various state and federal databases for records of such things as arrests, warrants, and domestic violence injunctions. An article that I wrote on my website Florida Criminal Records: Frequently Asked Questions looks at what a background check consists of including a list of the databases that are routinely searched.
In 1997 I was charged with lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 16. I was 18 and my girlfriend was 15, which i lived with along with her family. In 1998 I plead no contest and adjudication was withheld and I received 5 yrs probation. After 3 the judge (lober) released me from probation. Well 10 yrs later a judge released me from my registration Requirements because of the details of the case. Well I live in ks now and I tried to buy a handgun and was denied by FBI. Since then I haven't broken the law except a destruction of personal property in ks which is a misdemeanor. My question is.... Does my adjudication mean the same thing as convicted in the eyes of Florida or FBI? Is the felony itself enough to bam me from a firearm under FBI rule # 1 which is cannot ever be convicted of a charge punishable by over 1 yr? Thanks
Attorney Chapman's response:
If you were adjudicated guilty, then you were convicted under both Florida law and federal law.