A Michigan woman found out that she had a warrant out for her arrest over two overdue library books. Melinda Sanders-Jones found out when she had to go through a background check in order to get a promotion and was flagged as having a warrant. Her boss called over and told her to pull the car over because she had a warrant and she thought it was a joke until she called the library.
A few months before the call from her boss, she had gone into the library to use the printer and was told she was unable to use it due to overdue book charges. She called her husband who located "Where The Sidewalk Ends" and "Night" on her sons bookshelf and returned them. She then assumed that she would get a note from collections about the fees.
News 10 called the library and while they are unable to comment on individual cases, they said late notices are sent out at a few weeks after the due date and then again at two, three and four months out. Sanders said that at the time she had been moving around a lot with lastly ending up at a shelter for women while she was getting out of an abusive relationship. She said at the time she was getting no mail since he address had to be kept a secret, and even her phone number had to be changed.
Since she wasn't receiving mail, Sanders had no idea the late notices were even coming. Shes awaiting her second court date on November 7th, hoping for the charges to be dropped. She told WLIX that "there is no reason that this needs to be happening. Like I said, they would have had a better chance of getting their money if they would have sent it to collections...because I would have known."
According to the original news report by WLIX Sanders is charged with failure to return rental property, which carries a maximum penalty of 93 days in jail and a $500 fine.