Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

differance in charged and cited

i called the cops on my 17 yr old son, i found marijuana in his room, i just read in the paper that he was cited for Possession of a Small Amount of Marijuana. Does this mean he will just get a ticket and not have to appear before a judge? my intention on doing what i did was to get him back on probation to make him stay in school. PO said he would have him on intake with in days of this happening, but my son has since signed out of school, and the PO will not return my calls. So I just want to know if there is a differance between being charged and being cited with this? he has been charged with this same thing along with others before, and was off probation just one month when i called the cops on him again.


Asked on 12/07/07, 10:25 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Daniel Cevallos Cevallos & Wong, LLP

Re: differance in charged and cited

What did you expect? He has been charged with possession. You called the cops on him!

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Answered on 12/08/07, 10:17 am
Douglas Sughrue Attorneys Crosby & Sughrue

Re: differance in charged and cited

The absolute worst thing you can do is call the cops on your son for possesion of drugs because you can not or do not want to control him. He faces a criminal record, loss of driver's license and reduced earning potential for the rest of his life. Handle these matters within the family--get counseling for him--ground him, etc...

Charged & cited are the same thing. You may be referring to "being cited" i.e., being given a citation/summary level offense by the officer. Drug possession is a more serious crime than a citation can support. So, a criminal complaint was filed charging him with possession of drugs. Get a lawyer and maybe this mess can be cleaned up.

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Answered on 12/08/07, 12:29 pm


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