Help!

OK I have a question for some specific drivers here...

It's been a bit since I posted, but I have been trying to get an issue taken
care of, and it has not worked out as well as I had hoped.

In short, I was stopped in the beginning of December and cited for being
in possession of a Billy Club in my personal vehicle. I hired an attorney
to help me take care of this and not allow it to become a misdemeanor
violation. Unfortunately the lawyer seems to have the negotiation skills
of your average bagger at Albertsons or Wegmans.

$2500 later in attorney fees I had to plead No Contest resulting in $490
in fines and a one year summary probation. I can get it expunged after
the probation.

My question is this: is my pursuit of this career now on hold for a year?
I know that Hazmat is out of the question until I get this expunged,
but what about just getting hired to start with the more reasonable
companies out there? Don't bother telling me that JB Hunt, Swift and
CR England will still take me... not going to bother with this, if that's
what my choices are now limited to.

I was interested in companies like KLLM, Roehl, Watkins-Shepard...
Planning on going to Sage for school in late February / early March,
but I do not even know if I want to go that route now... fine school,
and despite the varying opinions of the board I think worth the
$4K, if I will be able to get on with one of these better companies,
after completion.

But will I be able to? Would like feedback from current/recent
drivers with these companies... if possible if any current drivers
could PM me, what I need if possible is some contact names and
numbers within these companies to get a straight answer as to
whether or not this will kill my chances with that company out
of school. Not BS from recruiters... I don't want to pay for
school, go to an orientation, only to be sent home for this.

 

I appreciate the replies... I hope that it is nothing, but I have read several threads on here of companies sending people home from orientation for what seems to be little at the time.

My financial situation is not good currently, and I am in quite a bit of debt, with nowhere to go in my current job... which is why I am starting to pursue this career change. I just don't want to get in a situation where I have quit my current job, paid several thousand for a higher-end school like Sage, worked to do well enough at that school to be able to get to the pre-hire point at a desirable company, to finally have something like this get me booted out of an orientation... leaving me with having to choose some company like Swift to start.

 

Thanks for the replies...Gas Hauler, I was not really looking to hide it from any company that I apply to. Please let me ask you, since you are knowledgeable in this. I know that there is a criminal backround check for Hazmat. Do you think a minor misdemeanor like this will casue an issue with the Hazmat endorsement? It was for that reason, that I was looking into getting the record expunged after my probationary period time is up.