IS MY ARREST RECORD AUTOMATICALLY EXPUNGED AFTER I COMPLETE ARD? NO!

I finally decided to post this issue to our blog after encountering yet another client who was told by the court that as a part of ARD his record would be expunged. The more accurate way to state this is that it can be expunged. However, unless you prepare and file a Expungement Petition and then mail the resulting Order out to all the law enforcement agencies that maintain your records (generally more than 10) the arrest will remain on your record for years to come. In fact, with the evolution of the internet, such records are now readily accessible by the public at the AOPC website at http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/. Thus, despite being told that your record “will be expunged” the truth is that it will never be expunged unless you contact an attorney and follow through with the expungement process. We handle expungements regularly and will be happy to guide you through the process.