Thanks for the replies and advice.

[Indirect Fire]

In South Carolina anyway,
State/fed criminal information system base all their "dispositions" of criminal cases upon data the prosecuting authority provides and they will not change or update that without official notice from that authority.
Happened allot back in the all paper days, person charged, charges dropped, state database not notified, overcharged with a felony or pleads from felony to non disqualifying misdemeanor, not notified etc.
Generally the solicitor or prosectors office has to chase down the paperwork and then resolve it/forward to the criminal info system which has no authority to do any changes without that contact.

W

 

[Kahrnut]

"Permits, we don't need no stinkin' permits!"

 

[rbalan]

Someone could have been arrested in the case and gave a false SSN that matched yours.

 

[jeep78]

Someone could have been arrested in the case and gave a false SSN that matched yours.

Name and address is all it takes to get you in this mess. Happened to me, and did not show up till after I moved out of state. I had to hire a lawyer where I used to live to get it cleared up.

The dirt bag just picked a name and address out of the local phone book. Lucky me.

 

[heavyd]

Give me a call.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Someone could have been arrested in the case and gave a false SSN that matched yours.

Yeah, THIS. This is how even a fingerprint-based background check can show a false positive for a criminal history that you never had any connection to. If the other guy gave your name, or your SSN, or both at the time HE was arrested, his record becomes YOUR record. Even if the authorities later figure out who he really is, they don't go back and correct your record unless you demand it and work to get that done.

Identify theft is a huge problem, so common in America today.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Can you get a copy of the arrest warrant, police report, and jail booking info (with the suspect's photo) for that other dude that WAS arrested? If the face clearly doesn't match, or the age, or race, or something else obvious, that should satisfy the Probate Judge that it's not you. If it's even a fair possibility that the other guy is a "match" for you, expect that you'll need to get to the bottom of this and use fingerprints to prove it wasn't you, after which the feds and the GBI should be willing to correct their records, taking that arrest off "your" criminal history and leaving it only on the other dude's.

 

[baxterday]

Another example of government in action, doing what they do best.

 

[jeep78]

after which the feds and the GBI should be willing to correct their records

Don't hold your breath. As far as they are concerned, THEIR info is correct, it is up to the individual to prove different.

 

[palmettomoon]

So, if this whole thing goes way South...how much time are you looking at if convicted?

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

I suppose a complicating factor is the lack of information.
If Gwinnett County found out who the real drug suspect was, and corrected their records to put his name down and take your name out, how can you prove that this was the guy whose arrest showed up on YOUR criminal history?

After all, Gwinnett is a big county, and in any 24-hour period there may be dozens of people arrested for felony drug offenses. Possibly hundreds, especially on Fridays and Saturdays.

How would you know which of those arrests was "yours" if the names have since been corrected?