Can anyone give some legal advice about ARD? (attorney, neighborhood)

[mattjd]

A few years ago a friend of mine got into some minor trouble in Westmoreland Co. and received 6 months of ARD. After completion of the 6 months, he was told his record would be clean. He paid the court costs, fees, and restitution, but never did the 100 hours of community service. He was told he could simply report over the phone to his probation officer since he didn't live in Westmoreland and he did that, once a month for 6 months. After the 6 months, he heard nothing from his PO and has not heard anything for the past 3 years. He has been pulled over for speeding and stuff and hasn't gotten picked up, so he doesn't have a warrant. Can someone say what happened here? He didn't do his community service, so did the PO just put down that he did and have his record erased, which is what ARD is supposed to do? Could this somehow come back to hurt him years later? What does one have to do to get the record erased after completion of ARD?

[Hopes]

I have never heard of ARD, which isn't a big surprise because I live in a bubble when it comes to this sort of stuff.

I'm wondering if Neighborhood Legal Services can answer his question. If not, maybe they can point him in the direction of an affordable way to find an answer.

[aveojohn]

Have him call the clerk of courts office and ask them to look up his records and see if it was cleared.I doubt it was, the court system is very slow. He may have to get an attorney.

[robrobrob]

This is a criminal matter and Neighborhood Legal Services doesn't deal with criminal matters. I would imagine that his PO has not closed out his case but has not issued a warrant either. It is highly unlikley that his PO will close out his case without your friend doing his 100 hours of community service. Once he has completed the requirements of probation his record should be automatically expunged. That being said, this doesn't always happen all the time. Sometimes it takes a phone call to the clerk of courts to speed things along. And yes this could come back to haunt him because there may be an warrant eventually issued. He should hire an attorney and start clearing this up so it doesn't come back to bite him.