Abbey, I think they're right. If this was anything that they considered to be that serious, they never would have left you out to turn yourself in by a certain date! I can't believe I'm saying this because I've been on the other side for so long, but I seriously doubt if they will be looking for you. There will NOT be search parties with packs of bloodhounds tracking you down! It takes a great deal of time and money to locate someone in another state and bring them back. They just won't do this for something that they look at as a minor offense! And even if you went back, I'd bet anything they wouldn't have kept you more than a week or two. It costs a lot of money to keep someone incarcerated these days and with jail overcrowding and municipal budget problems almost everywhere, they would have kept you a week or so, just long enough to make an impression on you, then let you go - one of those "Lindsey Lohan" jail terms! Most places just don't have the money or the manpower to go after people like that for a minor offense. Of course, if you ever went back there again, and if you got stopped for a traffic offense or came to their attention in any way, they'd have to pick you up, but that's easy enough to prevent ... just stay the &%$# away from there!
ESPECIALLY if they've lost all the records of your case! You certainly don't want to volunteer! Not to make light of it at all, but it sort of reminds me of that scene in the Monty Python movie, "The Life of Brian". The Romans are conducting mass executions in the Coliseum and the one guy has the guard convinced that he's not supposed to be one of the victims, then starts giggling and tells him that he was just kidding! With all the confusion and misunderstandings, please don't "volunteer"!