Q: Earlier this week an applicant, Ms. Jessica Weeks went through an interview with two of my staff members. They liked her and I brought her into the shop today to begin the hiring process. As she completed paperwork, for some reason I had a feeling that she had possibly been arrested in her past. I asked her, ?Have you ever been arrested.? She said, ?I have for Domestic Violence but it was expunged.? Knowing that an expungement only makes records unavailable for hiring purposes, but continues to prohibit the person from possessing firearms, I dug deeper. As we spoke further she said she was ?written a ticket? and never convicted. I asked her if she paid a fine or not. She said that her attorney worked out some arrangement where all she had to pay was court costs. This causes me concern that what may have happened was a plea bargain (which I imagine would result in a guilty plea for reduced charges). I ran a background check through the Arkansas State Police online system which checks for state records only. It came back ?no records? for Ms. Weeks, but qualifies that result with the statement ?expunged records will not show up.? Therefore, I know I can?t trust this background check. Now I don?t know whether or not this person is convicted of domestic violence. The records are possibly expunged, making them invisible to me as an employer, but possibly still making her a prohibited person. I can?t take her word for it, when she says she wasn?t convicted (she said ?expunged? and talks about having to pay court fees). I can?t run NICS because there is no gun sale and I know that?s not allowed. The only other thing I?ve been told was that the arrest was out of Star City Arkansas. What would be the best way to proceed and find out if Ms. Weeks is actually a prohibited person, or not?
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