The client carried a Class 5 Felony Theft conviction and a Class 5 Felony Theft by Credit Card conviction out of Maricopa County Superior Court that dated back to a 1996 case. Future First filed the Application to Seal Records under ARS § 13-911 and the court granted the application in 315 days, sealing both decades-old felonies from public view and from background-check exposure.
At a glance
| Original conviction | Theft (ARS § 13-1802), Class 5 Felony; Theft by Credit Card (ARS § 13-2102), Class 5 Felony |
| Application filed | Application to Seal Records, ARS § 13-911, 2024 |
| Court | Maricopa County Superior Court |
| Result | Sealing Record Granted. Both felony counts sealed from public view and from background-check exposure. |
| Rights restored | The applicant can lawfully deny the case in most non-law-enforcement contexts. Background checks that consume the sealed-records database no longer return the case. |
| Time from application to grant | 315 days from application filing to granted |
The challenge
Two Class 5 Felony convictions from a 1996 case had been on the client’s record for nearly three decades. Theft and Theft by Credit Card cluster together in the dishonesty-coded offense category that financial roles, retail employers, and licensing boards flag automatically. The felony tier compounds the response and the two-count entry adds visual weight on the background-check return.
Sealing under ARS § 13-911 was the cleanup tool. The statutory wait for a Class 5 Felony is five years from judge-ordered non-financial completion. On a 1996-era case, the wait was satisfied many times over. The work was in pulling together the archived court file and building the application.
What we did
Future First filed the Application to Seal Records under ARS § 13-911 in Maricopa County Superior Court. The application covered both Class 5 Felony counts. The package reconstructed the 1996 case file from archive storage, documented the wait period from judge-ordered non-financial completion, the multi-decade clean record since the conviction, full monetary compliance, and the factors the court weighs under § 13-911.
Cases from the mid-1990s sit in archive court systems and require additional retrieval steps. The 315-day grant cycle reflects the work to pull the 1996 file, route the application through the assigned criminal division, and confirm the completion record on a conviction from before the modern electronic docket era. The application held up at every step.
The judge signed the order. Sealing Record Granted on both Class 5 Felony counts. The case file is sealed from public view. Background checks that consume the sealed-records database no longer return the case.
What our clients say
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If you have a decades-old Arizona felony theft case
Time alone does not seal an Arizona conviction. The case stays open on background checks until an order under ARS § 13-911 closes it. A conviction from 1996, 1986, or earlier remains visible on the underlying database. The applicant has to file and the court has to enter the sealing order.
The advantage on older cases is the wait period. ARS § 13-911 sets a five-year wait for Class 5 Felony cases. Decades-old cases have already cleared every wait period in the statute. The application is ready on day one.
The work on older cases is the document retrieval. The 1996-era Maricopa file lives in archive storage. The application has to surface the full sentencing record, the completion data, and the court’s underlying minute entries. Once that record is built, the application moves on the strength of the documentation.
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Call us
Want to clear your record in Arizona? Call Future First Criminal Law at 602-900-6240 or request a free consultation. We have handled hundreds of Arizona record removal applications across every statute path. The cleanup is permanent and the process moves faster when handled by a firm that knows the local court.
Anonymized in line with firm policy. Client name not used. Specific dates approximated to year only. Outcome described reflects this client’s actual results. Past outcomes do not guarantee future results. For more detailed information on Arizona record removal law, visit the Arizona State Legislature website.
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