An old family friend has been staying with my parents for a few months, and due to some recent events my mother has become suspicious that this friend might be trying to avoid the law. Is it possible for her to legally find out if an arrest warrant has been issued for him?
He’s leaving their house today. He said that he had to go back to his home city to address a lawsuit filed against him, but he mentioned a “bench warrant”. Do they issue bench warrants for civil cases like that? The circumstances in which he came seemed innocent at the time (he had fallen on hard times and needed a place to stay), but now we’re wondering whether he was avoiding the police by staying with my parents in a different city. There are some other strange circumstances involved with him leaving, like the fact that it was so sudden (he literally decided to leave town less than an hour ago, and is at the bus station right now), and the fact that old family members he hasn’t talked to in ages have been trying to communicate with him and he’s been avoiding them.
If there is no way to find out if he’s wanted, should my mother call the police, or would that be inappropriate with the limited info she has?
It may just be confirmation bias, but it seems like everytime someone asks a legal type question, the location field is blank. Anyways, I would think (but I could be compeatly wrong) that you could call the police department in the city where you think the warrent is and ask them. Depending on what the warrent is for, they may be interested to find out where he is.
The blank location/legal question link is just coincidence in this case. I’m pretty sure I mentioned where I’m from (Las Vegas) on a few occasions here. I didn’t even notice the location was blank until you pointed it out, actually!
The police might be interested, but I’ve tried to get information like this once and they won’t tell you if there is a warrant. And if it is from a different jurisdiction, they probably aren’t going to be interested in arresting him unless there was a major crime involved.
Humorous note–here in M’boro, Grumpy’s Bail Bonds offered a “free service”, mentioned in one of their commercials. They offered to check & see if you had any outstanding warrants.