No Trespassing Order, Falsely Accused of Making Physical Threats (Charlotte: crime, credit card)

[CMellin]

Hello local law mavens.

Here's the problem and some background:

I paid for transcripts from a local university in Mecklenberg county. (Filled out the form completely, included my credit card number).

I had problems with this university when I attended it. It seemed like everything that could go wrong bureaucratically did go wrong: my major department lost my grades; I didn't get notification of graduation, so I didn't graduate when I got my BA. Same thing happened when I got my MA. I never got info about MA prep lectures, and I got no info regarding changes to MA requirements (reading list dropped from 125 books to 25 books). My thesis committee quit the school and didn't sign off on my thesis (it was finally awarded an A after I got proxy signatures). My scholarship was mistakenly given to another student in my second year of my MA. (It was finally recovered).

My major department couldn't find my grades when it came time for me to receive my MA. The graduate school was a bit confounded about that and how these things kept happening. To my knowledge, I had not offended anyone to bring this upon myself. (There's more, but I think anyone would get the idea).

After I graduated, I applied for a job at a private school. The principal said that he'd call a friend at the university who could tell him "all about me". I told him that that teacher didn't know me. I was refused the job because of what this professor said about me. He didn't even know me.

I filed a complaint about that situation along with the above-mentioned snafus. I got no answer. I sent the complaint to the president of the whole university system. Still no answer. I sent letters to my state representative who promised to get someone to answer me.

No answers.

Four years later, I FINALLY got a job. I requested the university to send the transcripts directly to the school as the school requested. My boss mentioned to me two weeks after I was hired that the transcripts hadn't arrived, so I called the university registrar's office to check. I was assured whether they had or had not gone out as promised, they would be re-sent. I told my employer's secretary to be on the lookout. Three weeks later, my boss tells me that the transcripts STILL hadn't arrived. I called again. The registrar's office is incredulous, but nobody could say that he had actually sent them out. A week before the end of the term (at the school where I was teaching) I was told that the transcripts still had not arrived. My boss was not happy.

At this point, I called the chancellor's office, the dean's office, and the general counsel's office to complain.

TADA. The transcripts arrived. That was five years ago. Since then, I have had to move on to new employment because of downsizing.

OOOOOkay. I requested transcripts again, following the prescribed method. They were to be sent to ME. This time, I called the chancellor's office and the general counsel's office and made it very clear that I needed the transcripts sent in a timely manner. The general counsel's office called back to tell me that the transcripts would be sent out "tomorrow". The GC verified it with the registrar.

A week passes. No transcripts. I called the chancellor's office and the General Counsel's office and told them that the transcripts hadn't arrived. I also sent an email to the general counsel telling him that I would be very happy to send a lawyer to his office "to chew somebody a new orifice." Those were my exact words.

I also called my major department and asked to speak to several teachers. Nobody was in his office, so the only person I spoke to was the secretary.

The next day, I got a call from a man who identified himself as someone who worked for the Chancellor's office. He said that he had ten copies of transcripts for me. He said that he would hand deliver them to me the next day.

The next day, two guys armed with semiautomatic weapons and wearing sunglasses, blue uniforms and badges, and bearing a notice demanding that I "Leave the University's Campus Immediately" rang my door bell. They told me to step outside.

I asked them why I was being sent the order. I hadn't been on the campus for over ten years. I was told to sign the order. After I signed it, the officer added to the decree (which bore the name of NO authorizing body nor anyone's signature) that I was to contact no one at the university except campus police.

I found out that someone to whom I spoke said that I threatened to "F*** you up." That was the threat. Sorry, wrong guy. I don't talk like that, not even when I am angry. It wasn't the orifice comment that prompted this episode. Supposedly, someone has a recording of me saying it. I told the police that I record ALL of my phone calls (because of a hearing impairment), so I'd be interested in hearing his recording. Nobody has offered to play the recording for me.

Since then, I have been in contact with the campus police to verify if the University has jurisdiction to come to my house and to intimidate me into signing the "Leave the Campus Order". I also questioned the validity of the order as well as the authority, and the whole procedure. The police chief would not divulge the name of the person who accused me of saying that I "am going to f*** you up", citing an ordinance protecting the identity of the person because I posed a credible threat. He could not cite any ordinance saying that the campus police could drive across the city to ask me to sign a form telling me to leave the campus when i had not been on the campus for over ten years! All that he could tell me was that they were allowed to carry weapons in the line of any sort of duty.

The short questions: Does the university police department have jurisdiction seven miles from the campus? Was the procedure entrapment? Was the addition of the "no contact term" legal?

Can someone direct me to a legal body who can help me with this? I have no money for a lawyer, and I can see that this whole mess is going to show up on somebody's record.

[coastalgirl]

Obviously since you emailed the threat, there is a written record of it. Your story sounds a little incredulous to me. The university isn't going to waste time and money on sending you an order unless something really did happen.

When you had so much bureaucratic trouble with your bachelors, why did you stay on for a masters? When you had so much trouble getting your transcripts the first time, why didn't you request several copies to have on hand in the future?

[CharlotteGal]

You might try Legal Services - I don't know if this is the kind of case they help with, but they might be able to point you to another resource if not.

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[cheesecracker]

OK.
Very interesting write up.
Need some clarity.
Is your current place of residence on Campus property?
When these armed men showed at your door, did they give you the transcripts you requested?

[brokensky]

I do not ask this to offend you - just trying to get a better picture of this situation. Did you have any other incidences while a student and actually attending classes, i.e. mental health issues? You don't have to answer that - simply asking in order for you to better frame all these occurrences. Just wondering if there is something more that would have "flagged" your name and records at the Registrar's office.

[Charlotteborn]

You had all of these problems during the time you were getting your BA and you went back to the same school for a MA?

[paulosfm]

First, I would name the school/university. I have my doubts that the campus police would have jurisdiction outside the campus unless they (as certified LEO) were witnessing a crime taking place. If the paper was a legitimate court order, I still wonder if the campus police would have jurisdiction, leaving paper service to the Sheriff's Department, which is the agency that serves court orders. The campus police at UNCC (which I am concluding is the school in question, here) have been known to get beyond the tip of their skis more than once or twice and most cases get handled internally at the Admin level (it's called cover up). Our daughter attended there, along with some of her friends, and could write a book on dumb stunts the campus police pull both on campus and off campus in the surrounding areas.

As for your issues with the bureaucrats at the school, I saw nothing that said you sent any registered communications. Email can get lost in the ozone and the intended recipient can claim they never got your email.

If you can put your issues in a Readers Digest form, I would see if I could get on Stuart Watson's dance card at WCNC to see if he would be interested in the campus police angle - since I believe there might be an over the line issue. As someone has suggested, you need to talk with Legal Services; your problem could be a the tip of a bigger issue at the university. Note that you have gaps in your case as someone has mentioned here on this site.

[CMellin]

Originally Posted by coastalgirl

Obviously since you emailed the threat, there is a written record of it. Your story sounds a little incredulous to me. The university isn't going to waste time and money on sending you an order unless something really did happen.

When you had so much bureaucratic trouble with your bachelors, why did you stay on for a masters? When you had so much trouble getting your transcripts the first time, why didn't you request several copies to have on hand in the future?

I emailed no physical threat. Offering to send a lawyer to chew someone a new orifice is figurative language which most normal people would understand as such. That was not what prompted the visit according to the campus police. I supposedly told someone by phone that I would f*** you up.

I stayed at the institution for an MA for one simple fact: I could not afford to attend another school. Besides, bureaucratic snafus merely indicate inefficiency (usually).

When one applies for a job that requires transcripts, half of the time, the hiring institution requires that they be mailed from the issuing institution to the hiring institution. All I needed this last time was one copy, not ten, so I did not order ten. At about four dollars each, I didn't care to order ten copies.

[CMellin]

Originally Posted by CharlotteGal

You might try Legal Services - I don't know if this is the kind of case they help with, but they might be able to point you to another resource if not.

Homepage

I have looked for some sort of Legal Aid Society for Mecklenburg county, but I could find none. I spoke to someone at Cabarrus County Legal Aid, and I was given another number to call. The people there said that they couldn't help.

[CMellin]

Originally Posted by paulosfm

As for your issues with the bureaucrats at the school, I saw nothing that said you sent any registered communications. Email can get lost in the ozone and the intended recipient can claim they never got your email.

If you can put your issues in a Readers Digest form, I would see if I could get on Stuart Watson's dance card at WCNC to see if he would be interested in the campus police angle - since I believe there might be an over the line issue. As someone has suggested, you need to talk with Legal Services; your problem could be a the tip of a bigger issue at the university. Note that you have gaps in your case as someone has mentioned here on this site.

I sent a FAX to request the transcripts. When I followed up on the receipt of the fax BY PHONE CALL, I did so through the chancellor's office and through the General Counsel's office. It was the GC that confirmed that the transcripts were mailed out.

Aside from the in-person conversations with the campus police, all other communication has been by email through (oddly enough) campus police. I am beginning to wonder why the GC isn't involved in this if I supposedly communicated physical threats. The GC is the legal entity that spells out the law. The police merely enforces the law. I had done nothing wrong. I seems weird that the campus police would misrepresent itself as being the the Chancellor's office, and would drive about seven miles to deliver TEN copies of transcripts, then make me sign an ordering me to leave the campus immediately when I hadn't been there in over ten years.

What sort of gaps? I'm not hiding anything. I merely wanted to give as brief an account as possible so that I could receive advice. I don't know what else to include.

Basically, I am wondering if the campus police has jurisdiction and if the campus police's visit constitutes sort of deliberate intimidation, especially considering the fact that the campus police called me and misrepresented itself as being with the chancellor's office. BTW, there is no chancellor at UNCC at present, only an "acting chancellor" who could be anyone from the old chancellor's secretary to a gym teacher or a math teacher.