OXNARD : Arrest Over Traffic Ticket Is Disputed

Ventura County court officials can find no record that an Oxnard woman paid all the necessary fees to clear a 1988 traffic ticket--a citation that led to what she says was a mistaken arrest on July 7, County Counsel Robert Orellana said Tuesday.

Oxnard police arrested Helene Golemon at her Oxnard Shores home on an outstanding warrant after she twice dialed 911 asking police to quiet rowdy teen-agers in her neighborhood.

To have her ticket fully cleared, Orellana said, Golemon should have paid $24 in court fees and $22 to attend eight hours of traffic school in 1988. Golemon claims to have promptly paid both sums.

“I want them to close my case and clear my name as it should be,” Golemon said. “I took care of what I was supposed to do.” But Orellana said that court officials audited all the payments made in August, 1988, and found only a record of her $22 payment for traffic school. The court officials now are conducting a further audit to see if they can find a record of a $24 payment in court fees.

“A week-and-a-half ago when this happened, I called the records department and they said my file was in order,” Golemon said. “All of a sudden it seems odd that it’s not in order.”

In the meantime, Golemon’s arrest warrant has been canceled and the $188 she paid to bail herself out of jail has been refunded, Orellana said.