Long story short, two year ago I received a MTA ticket for fare evasion. It had a court summons, and it was for doubling up.
The situation surrounding the ticket was as follows:
It was 2am, and a group of us were leaving our friends birthday gathering. We get to the 42nd street station, and I swipe my card only to find out it does not work (I had bought a $4.00 card earlier that day and only used it once. Apparently the machine had stolen my fare). Lo and behold there is no agent in the station. I attempt to swipe the card again but it was futile, in which case I the stop to shuffle in my purse for my pocketbook to find coins to purchase a single ride card. I was so distracted that I did not see my friend obviously tired and frustrated swipe his card behind me allowing us both to pass. We then get stopped by two cops that threaten to arrest us, and not give us time to explain the situation. They didn't allow us to pay the fare seeing that we obviously had money to pay the fare. One of the officers wanted to let us go, but the other insisted on giving us a ticket (we assume this was due to the fact that it was 2 am, and they had a quota to fill).
It takes an hour to fill out both tickets which only delays us 2 hours in getting home since trains run local after 12am. At this point my friend feels really horrible, since his impatience got us both a $100 ticket over a $2.00 metro card. We go to the "Transit Adjudication Bureau" within the following week to follow up our inquiry. I talked to an officer at the bureau about fighting the ticket, and he said it was not worth it since the "Transit Adjudication Bureau" has an 85% conviction rate, and has been trialed in federal court for not hosting open trials. He also said that if we lost we would be charged a $50 additional fee bumping both our fines to $150. The cop said the likely hood we would win is slim since individuals have lost with more life-threatening excuses such as (walking through the train cars, due to illicit activity ie. smoking, or altercations. in the car they were in) due to cops not showing up and lack of evidence. My friend pays both fines since he feels responsible for what happened and chances of winning seemed grim.
Now this scenario has come back to haunt me as I filled my N-400 and have a personal interview on Tuesday. I don't believe the lady that filed my N-400 listed fare evasion as a citation since I didn't see it to be more serious than a parking ticket, and I don't know how much of a problem this would be. Fast forward two years later and I am a college student, interning at a bi-state agency. They did a background check, and the H.R. representative knows about the Fare Evasion incident and she said it was not a big deal. At this point I do not know if it was on my record and they just did not care, or if it does not show up at all. BTW that was my first infraction with the law ever in my life.
So what do you think should I be worried, or am I just over thinking it? Does this give the agent the right to revoke my application?
The situation surrounding the ticket was as follows:
It was 2am, and a group of us were leaving our friends birthday gathering. We get to the 42nd street station, and I swipe my card only to find out it does not work (I had bought a $4.00 card earlier that day and only used it once. Apparently the machine had stolen my fare). Lo and behold there is no agent in the station. I attempt to swipe the card again but it was futile, in which case I the stop to shuffle in my purse for my pocketbook to find coins to purchase a single ride card. I was so distracted that I did not see my friend obviously tired and frustrated swipe his card behind me allowing us both to pass. We then get stopped by two cops that threaten to arrest us, and not give us time to explain the situation. They didn't allow us to pay the fare seeing that we obviously had money to pay the fare. One of the officers wanted to let us go, but the other insisted on giving us a ticket (we assume this was due to the fact that it was 2 am, and they had a quota to fill).
It takes an hour to fill out both tickets which only delays us 2 hours in getting home since trains run local after 12am. At this point my friend feels really horrible, since his impatience got us both a $100 ticket over a $2.00 metro card. We go to the "Transit Adjudication Bureau" within the following week to follow up our inquiry. I talked to an officer at the bureau about fighting the ticket, and he said it was not worth it since the "Transit Adjudication Bureau" has an 85% conviction rate, and has been trialed in federal court for not hosting open trials. He also said that if we lost we would be charged a $50 additional fee bumping both our fines to $150. The cop said the likely hood we would win is slim since individuals have lost with more life-threatening excuses such as (walking through the train cars, due to illicit activity ie. smoking, or altercations. in the car they were in) due to cops not showing up and lack of evidence. My friend pays both fines since he feels responsible for what happened and chances of winning seemed grim.
Now this scenario has come back to haunt me as I filled my N-400 and have a personal interview on Tuesday. I don't believe the lady that filed my N-400 listed fare evasion as a citation since I didn't see it to be more serious than a parking ticket, and I don't know how much of a problem this would be. Fast forward two years later and I am a college student, interning at a bi-state agency. They did a background check, and the H.R. representative knows about the Fare Evasion incident and she said it was not a big deal. At this point I do not know if it was on my record and they just did not care, or if it does not show up at all. BTW that was my first infraction with the law ever in my life.
So what do you think should I be worried, or am I just over thinking it? Does this give the agent the right to revoke my application?