Legal Question in Traffic Law in New Jersey

Contempt charge for not paying traffic fine

I received a traffic ticket for not wearing a seatbelt. I was unable to make the court date due to military service; I just recently finished 20 months on active duty in the United States Army. The ticket indicted that court appearance was not required. I mailed a check for the fine, which appears as though it was either lost in the mail or not processed. The court assumed I did not pay the fine or appear in court and issued ''a warrant for [my] arrest for comtempt of court as a result of an unanswered traffic summons.'' Bail was set at $320 and I was threatened with ''pending arrest.'' I am a military vet with 14 years service, in addition to having been a corrections officer with a county Sheriff's Department for 5 years. I have no criminal record and take offense to the fact that this small NJ Court has taken an overdue fine, which I attempted to pay, to the extreme of issuing an arrest warrant. The court is over 400 miles from my home, as I am now off active duty at Fort Dix, NJ and back to my civilian job and reserve status in the Army Reserve. Common sense would have me believe that no DA would attempt to push the issue on this and that simply paying the fine would be enough to end this. Please advise??? Thank you.

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