Turned down by the CBP for Global Entry as a "high risk" traveler!

[chrisinhouston]

Oh the shame, the shame!

I applied for the Global Entry program that lets you fast track through US Customs and got turned down. They have a very detailed application and in my effort to list everything that seemed relevant to my current life and travel patterns I forgot to mention that I had been arrested 38 years ago as a juvenile when I was 17 years old.

A friend in high school had given me a copy of the school's master key which I used to get into the school on weekends to print in the school's darkroom. Unbeknownst to me some other kids had a key and stole some stuff and got caught so I get arrested on susupicion of receiving stolen property! The detective who questioned me after my arrest figured out I was not involved with the others and suggested that the judge declare it a "dead docket" and I was free to go. Little did I know until now that this means I still have an arrest record even though no judgement or verdict was given and no plea on my part was made. I had really just about forgotten about it until the Customs and Border Patrol agent doing my interview asked me why I had not told him I had been arrested and had a record since it was on my background check!

After explaining my case he actually had a chuckle and seemed surprised that I was arrested for that, I reminded him that things were quite different in 1974. He gave me 30 days to contact the court in Georgia (I now live in Texas) and ask them for a letter releasing me or something to that effect. Yeah right! I tried to contact them by mail, email, and on the phone with no luck and one court clerk I actually got through to told me that they have no idea where the hand typed records from 1974 are or if mine was destroyed when I became an adult since that is what they used to do with juvenile records. I even spoke to the lawyer that handled my parent's probate and he agreed it was like looking for a needle in a haystack and it would cost several thousand in legal fees and might not be successful.

So I missed the deadline and got a letter saying I was rejected!

I just sent off a letter to the CBP Ombudsman to review my case and maybe reconsider me since I can't quite see that this event should make me a high risk traveler! So we will see...

I'm just so ashamed, I hope my crime record will not make me ineligible to be here at the Cellar...