TIFU by pleading guilty to a sex offense I didn't commit.

Okay just to clear some things up, because there are some things I just didn't mention because to me it wasn't relevant to the story. But here's the breakdown.

It was in Louisiana. While I was on probation, I was on the registry. After I got my pardon, I left Louisiana and moved to Tennessee. I didn't ask if I had to register, I just took what I remembered them saying at my trial, that if I got the pardon, it would be expunged from my record. So after I got it, I moved to another state and didn't look back. When I got arrested for the gun charge, they looked and found my pardon, and written there, as pretty as you please, was the sentence that said I wasn't allowed to own a gun. Ever. I hadn't seen or looked at that pardon in 15 years or so, I just assumed I could because of what I remembered them saying. I have to accept responsibility for that one. I should have made sure. As for not registering, I never said I wasn't required to register... quite the opposite. That was my second charge. I SHOULD have been registering. I just didn't because I didn't think I had to. Hell, I was pulled over for speeding, and I figure if they were looking for me, I would have had a warrant or something, but I never had a problem. And speaking to your reference to the record on how everything was entered, I'm sure there is a record. And I'm sure there is something written in plain english laying out everything I was supposed to do. But you have to understand... the only thing that got me through the first five years of probation was what I was told by my lawyer, and I have a distinct memory of the judge saying it on the stand... that after I get the pardon, my record would be expunged. That's what got me through it all. I didn't go reading up on the paperwork to see if they were telling me the truth, or to see if maybe I misunderstood because I was pinning all my hopes on that so that I could get it all behind me. So I accept my responsibility in not doing my due diligence. But strangely enough, before I went to the gun store, I did a background check on myself to make sure the sex charge wasn't there. And it wasn't. That's what ultimately convinced me it was all over with. I still don't understand that. Maybe the ruling was, "as long as I didn't commit another offense, it would be expunged" or something like that. And "lying" on the federal form was an offense. Hell, I don't know.

As for them asking people to raise hands in class, that's just what my little sister told me happened. I don't know if that really happened. For all I know, she made it up. All I know is that I was sitting on the couch watching TV when the cops showed up. I don't have any evidence on how they were informed, just what she told me happened.

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