History Main / AmbiguousCriminalHistory

'''Gary:''' Well your fingerprints were all over my badge so I just ran it through the computer and this was listed as your last known address, so I checked it out.\\

'''Phoebe:''' ...yeah, we'll talk at dinner.
-->-- ''Series/{{Friends}}'', "The One with the Cop"

-->'''Nick''': Brains come out. Swamp water doesn't. Don't ask me how I know that.

* In the beginning of the first season of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'', Lee is on his way to a prison after killing the man he caught having sex with his wife. However it's never clear if he intentionally did it or if it was out of self defense. In fact, it's one of the selling points of the dialogue system; you can make him either a decent being who was wrongly accused or an utter bastard who deserved it.

* In ''Manga/NanatsuNoTaizai'', [[spoiler:Elizabeth]]'s first incarnation is called "Bloodstained [[spoiler:Ellie]]" by some, and two of the Commandments (the Demon King's elite strike force) want to get revenge on her specifically. The latter is explained in a way that gels with her [[AllLovingHero current personality]] (Derriere's sister was killed in a hostage negotiation that went wrong, Zeldris is upset that his brother [[LoveRedeems was seduced]] out of the Demon Clan), the former ''isn't''.

** He admits having an alternate identity named "William Charles Schneider" complete with passport [[blocknote]]William Charles Schneider is the actor Creed Bratton's birthname and that is his real passport[[/blocknote]] that he uses to unload debt on.

* In the beginning of the first season of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'', Lee is on his way to a prison after killing the man he caught having sex with his wife. However it's never clear if he intentionally did it or if it was out of self defense. In fact it's one of the selling points of the dialogue system, to make him either seem like a decent being who was wrong accused or an utter bastard who deserved it.

* In the first season of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'', Lee is set to a prison involving a murder of his wife after catching her cheating with someone else. However it's never clear if he intentionally did it or if it was out of self defense. In fact it's one of the selling points of the dialogue system, to make him either seem like a decent being who was wrong accused or an utter bastard who deserved it.

* Creed from the American version of ''Series/{{The Office|US}}'' takes this tropes UpToEleven. A few examples of implied crimes...

[[folder:Other]]
* [=ItemLabel=]'s [[https://itemlabel.com/collections/plush/products/peepy Peepy]] is described to have a criminal background but doesn't go into specifics about its crime(s). However, the corresponding lore videos also shows it deliberately trying to avoid its parole officer, influencing someone to shoplift, and taking advantage of someone to steal their cryptocurrency and tax returns.
--> '''Listing''': After committing a dangerous and disrespectful crime, Peepy is out on bail and ready to come to your house.
[[/folder]]

* [=ItemLabel=]'s [[https://itemlabel.com/collections/plush/products/peepy Peepy]] is described to have a criminal background but doesn't go into specifics about its crime(s). However, the corresponding lore videos also shows it deliberately trying to avoid its parole officer, influencing someone to shoplift, and taking advantage of someone to steal their cryptocurrency and tax returns.
--> '''Listing''': After committing a dangerous and disrespectful crime, Peepy is out on bail and ready to come to your house.

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Grunkle Stan is a cheapskate who frequently scams his customers, but hints are consistently dropped that his illegal activities are much more extensive. In "The Stanchurian Candidate", he runs for mayor and wins in a landslide, but is disqualified after his criminal record is discovered. A FreezeFrameBonus lists various crimes he committed, including pug trafficking ([[BrickJoke Which he does on-screen in the next episode]]), impersonating a dentist, golf car theft, bingo fraud, llamacide ("That llama deserved it!") and general indecency.

* ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'': In "Mom App",

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Grunkle Stan is a cheapskate who frequently scams his customers, but hints are consistently dropped that his illegal activities are much more extensive. In "The Stanchurian Candidate", he runs for mayor and wins in a landslide, but is disqualified after his criminal record is discovered. A FreezeFrameBonus lists various crimes he committed, including pug trafficking ([[BrickJoke Which he does on-screen 4 episodes later]]), impersonating a dentist, golf car theft, bingo fraud, llamacide ("That llama deserved it!") and general indecency.

* Eleanor of ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' is known to have been a generally selfish person when she was alive and her company scammed elderly people. She occasionally hints that she has a notable criminal record, including working at a place raided by the FBI regularly, being banned from public transportation in her city, and being a frequent defendant in small-claims court.
* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Barney's job is [[ObliquelyObfuscatedOccupation poorly defined and highly ambiguous]], though it's known that his company does a lot of illegal activity, gets sued frequently, and once contaminated Lisbon's water supply. In season eight, his friends kidnap him for [[spoiler:his bachelor party]] and his first instinct upon being thrown into the car is to yell that he never talked to the North Koreans, and if his kidnappers are North Korean that he never talked to the ''South'' Koreans. In the ninth and final season, it's revealed that Barney's job description is [[spoiler:"Provide Legal Exculpation And Sign Everything" (P.L.E.A.S.E.), meaning that every day he just has to sign a bunch of legal paperwork designating him as the company's FallGuy for all their criminal activities, though he's secretly an FBI informant reporting on the company's crimes.]]

* Aja from ''Film/JemAndTheHolograms'' mentions going to juvvy. It's never mentioned why she went there, but it's still off for the stick-to-the-rules OnlySaneMan Aja from the [[WesternAnimation/{{Jem}} cartoon]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'', when the Oozma Kappa fraternity group is spotted by security in the Scare Factory, Art completely freaks out at the thought of any legal punishment and screams that he [[NeverGoingBackToPrison can't go back to prison]]. It's [[NoodleIncident never explained]] what he did to wind up there in the first place.

** Panicking when the cops show up to office looking for marijuana even though Michael was framing Toby.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' Horst the sous-chef has done time, but nobody knows what for because [[MultipleChoicePast he changes the story every time]]. He's claimed to have robbed the second-largest bank in France using only a ballpoint pen and [[OnceKilledAManWithANoodleImplement killed a man with his thumb]], among many other things.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Phoebe's MysteriousPast is a frequent source of comedy on the show. At one point she dates a cop who looks at her file and learns she has done "some pretty weird stuff". In one episode, she and her friends are in Vegas and she says this when she believes she is being arrested.

* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', Barney's job is [[ObliquelyObfuscatedOccupation poorly defined and highly ambiguous]], though it's known that his company does a lot of illegal activity, gets sued frequently, and does a lot business with "our friends the North Koreans". In season eight, his friends kidnap him for [[spoiler:his bachelor party]] and his first instinct upon being thrown into the car is to yell that he never talked to the North Koreans, and if his kidnappers are North Korean that he never talked to the ''South'' Koreans. In the ninth and final season, it's revealed that Barney's job description is [[spoiler:"Provide Legal Exculpation And Sign Everything" (P.L.E.A.S.E.), meaning that every day he just has to sign a bunch of legal paperwork designating him as the company's FallGuy for all their criminal activities, though he's secretly an FBI informant reporting on the company's crimes.]]

* Creed from ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' takes this tropes UpToEleven. A few examples of implied crimes...

* Frank, from ''Series/TheCryOfMann'', stated that he's been to jail and isn't going back...but never explains ''what'' he was in jail for, and instead just changes the subject onto Courtney's "going soft".

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Grunkle Stan is known to be a cheapskate who frequently scams his customers, but hints are consistently dropped that his illegal activities are much more extensive. In "The Stanchurian Candidate", he runs for mayor and wins in a landslide, but is disqualified after his criminal record is discovered. A FreezeFrameBonus lists various crimes he committed, including pug trafficking ([[BrickJoke Which he does on-screen 4 episodes later]]), impersonating a dentist, golf car theft, bingo fraud, llamacide ("That llama deserved it!") and general indecency.

** Claiming that the last person who stole from him "disappeared". His name? [[KillAndReplace Creed Bratton]].

** Suggesting that he killed a man named Creed Bratton and [[KillAndReplace assumed his identity.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Grunkle Stan is known to be a cheapskate who frequently scams his customers, but hints are consistently dropped that his illegal activities are much more extensive. In "Stanchurian Candidate", he runs for mayor and wins in a landslide, but is disqualified after his criminal record is discovered. A FreezeFrameBonus lists various crimes he committed, including pug trafficking, impersonating a dentist, golf car theft, bingo fraud, and general indecency.

* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Garak used to belong to a shifty organization called the Obsidian Order[[note]]the Cardassian secret police -- they're in so deep that only one leader of the organization has ever lived long enough to retire[[/note]] and did ''something'' during his time in the Order to get him exiled from Cardassia, but it's never revealed what. The one time he supposedly opens up about it, he actually gives multiple conflicting stories, all of which are ultimately proven to be false.

[[folder:Films — Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'', when the Oozma Kappa fraternity group is spotted by security in the Scare Factory, Art completely freaks out at the thought of any legal punishment and screams that he [[NeverGoingBackToPrison can't go back to prison]]. It's [[NoodleIncident never explained]] what he did to wind up there in the first place.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' Horst the sous-chef has done time, but nobody knows what for because [[MultipleChoicePast he changes the story every time]]. He's claimed to have robbed the second-largest bank in France using only a ballpoint pen and [[OnceKilledAManWithANoodleImplement killed a man with his thumb]], among many other things.