Seal or Expunge in Pasco County, FL
If you were arrested or charged with a crime in Dade City or New Port Richey, FL, you may be able to seal or expunge the criminal history record, including any notation of the arrest, the mug shot, and the clerk’s file.
If you want to seal or expunge your criminal record in Pasco County, FL, you have come to the right place. The attorneys at Sammis Law Firm charge a flat fee of $1,200 to complete the process of sealing or expunging a criminal record.
Our offices are conveniently located in New Port Richey, FL, across from the West Pasco Judicial Center.
We also contact any third party or data mining company that has published the information online, including MugShot[dotcome] or SecretPast[dotcom] and their sister websites, in order to demand that they take the information down without delay.
Although you can file the motion to seal or expunge the record without an attorney, hiring an attorney may help you complete the process faster and with less stress and aggravation. Let us put our experience to work for you. We can help you complete all the paperwork today.
Contact us to speak directly with a criminal defense attorney about this important right under Florida law.
Call (813) 250-0500 today.
Attorney for Sealing or the Expunction in Pasco County, FL
Generally, information about any county ordinance violation, criminal traffic case, misdemeanor offense, or felony charge is available for public viewing at the Clerk’s Office in the New Port Richey Courthouse or the Dade City Courthouse.
Additionally, information about the arrest can be obtained from any agency involved, unless the case has been sealed or expunged. A court file that has been sealed requires a court order to unseal the file prior to viewing its contents.
An attorney can help you seal or expunge certain criminal records. If the record is expunged, it is destroyed and any mention of the record is removed from the website of the clerk’s office and not otherwise available for public viewing.
If the record is sealed, it is placed under highly restricted access at the clerk’s office.
Sealing or expunging a record also means that the record is not publicly available at the sheriff’s office or the local law enforcement agency involved in the arrest. Local law enforcement agencies in Pasco County include the following:
- the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office;
- the New Port Richey Police Department;
- the Port Richey Police Department;
- the Dade City Police Department;
- the Zephyrhills Police Department; and
- the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) provides a process through which certain types of criminal records can be sealed (placed under highly restricted access) or expunged (removed from the records of the clerk’s office or the office of the law enforcement agency involved).
Pursuant to section 943.059, Florida Statutes, anyone seeking the sealing of non-judicial criminal history records by court order must first apply for and receive a certificate of eligibility from FDLE. See also State v. D.H.W., 686 So.2d 1331 (Fla. 1996); Fla. Admin. Code Ann. R. 11C-7 (1992).
The laws and rules that govern the expunction or sealing of criminal records include Section F.S. 943.0585, 943.059, and the Florida Administrative Code in Chapter 11C-7.
Additional Resources
Seal or Expunge Information from the Pasco Clerk – Visit the website of the Clerk & Comptroller, Paula S. O’Neil, in Pasco County, FL, to learn more about felony, misdemeanor, criminal traffic, and county ordinance violations. The clerk’s office in Pasco County, FL, for the courthouse in Dade City or New Port Richey charges fees and costs of $42.00 to seal or expunge a criminal record.
Seal and Expunge Information from FDLE – Visit the website for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) or call 1-850-0410-7100 to learn more from FDLE about the process of sealing vs. expunging a criminal record after an arrest in Pasco County, FL. The FDLE website explains whether applications are currently being processed for a particular month. Find a section on frequently asked questions and free online forms. Learn more about the application process for the Certificate of Eligibility, the difference between having a criminal history record sealed or expunged, and problems with having incidents with different dates of arrest sealed or expunged.
Finding a Seal or Expunge Lawyer in Pasco County, FL
After an arrest or prosecution in New Port Richey or Dade City, Pasco County, FL, contact an experienced attorney to help you seal or expunge a criminal history record. We help clients with misdemeanors and felony arrest records.
Under Florida law, even if your charges were dropped by the State Attorney’s Office or dismissed by the court, your adult criminal history records are public unless sealed or expunged.
Under Section 943.053(3), Florida Statutes, a criminal history record is created when a person is arrested and fingerprinted and includes the disposition of any charges stemming from that arrest, even if the person is found “not guilty” at trial or the court withholds adjudication of guilt.
For this reason, you need a criminal defense attorney in Pasco County, FL, to help you keep that record from being available to the public. Contact us today to speak with an experienced seal or expunge attorney. Let us put our experience to work for you.
Visit our offices at 7509 Little Road, New Port Richey, FL. Call (813) 250-0500 today to schedule a time to complete the paperwork in our office.
This article was last updated on Friday, February 2, 2024.