U.S. Attorney's office collects more than $15 million

By Tom Blakey

The U.S. Attorney's office announced it collected about $15.8 million in 2008 -- money owed to crime victims and to the federal government from various sources such as court orders requiring criminals to pay restitution, cases involving fraud against the U.S., and recovery of delinquent debts owed to the federal government.

"Our responsibility to enforce federal law and protect the public extends to financial protection and recovery of debts owed to victims of crime and to the United States," said U.S. Attorney John C. Richter. "I am particularly proud of the efforts by our Financial Litigation and Asset Forfeiture Units who have worked diligently to recover money owed to victims of crime and to the federal government."

Richter said the Financial Litigation Unit collected $11.6 million -- a more than 12 percent increase over 2007.

"In order to put these collection efforts into perspective, the United States Attorney's office recovered $32.30 for every $1 spent in its collection efforts," Richter said.

The collection efforts are summarized as follows:

· Criminal Collections: A total of $6,905,308 was collected from convicted criminals ordered to pay restitution and disbursed to victims of crimes. Nationally, the special assessments, fines and civil penalties collected by the Financial Litigation Units in the USAOs around the country are disbursed by the Department of Justice's Office of Victims of Crime to each state.

In fiscal year 2008, DOJ awarded $5,623,000 to the Oklahoma District Attorneys Council to aid and assist crime victims throughout Oklahoma. Of that amount, funding went to state and non-profit agencies throughout Oklahoma that offer direct victim services to the public, crime victim's compensation, domestic violence and sexual assault services, direct victim services throughout the criminal justice and crime victims' compensation proceedings, child programs, and state, local and tribal government, Richter said.

· Civil Collections: A total of $4,748,989 has been collected in civil cases. Out of that number, $3,579,884 was collected on cases involving allegations of fraud committed against the United States. This amount was more than three times the recoveries obtained on fraud cases in 2007, Richter said.

In pursuing collection of these debts, Richter said the Financial Litigation Unit uses novel techniques such as the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program at the Bureau of Prisons. Richter said the program collected $62,076 from federal inmates taken directly out of their earnings in prison jobs to be paid to victims of crimes.

Another technique is the Taxpayer Offset Program which captured $349,468 in Internal Revenue Service refunds directly from the IRS before they were sent to the taxpayer to be applied toward that taxpayer's delinquent debts owed to the United States -- almost double that recovered in 2007.

Richter said the USAO's Asset Forfeiture Unit works to seize and forfeit assets from criminal defendants. In 2008, the Asset Forfeiture Unit recovered $4,181,853 in cash and forfeited assets. In addition to cash, the unit seized and/or captured forfeited items such as a Peterbilt truck and a trailer, a BMW 328I convertible, two Mercedes vehicles, twp Bombardier personal watercrafts, two Harley Davidson motorcycles, several large screen televisions and various diamond jewelry items with weights of 8.38, 2.01, 2.4 and 1.1 carats.

"The power to seize and forfeit assets strikes criminals where it hurts -- their pocketbooks," Richter said. "Through forfeiture, we take the criminals' property, cash or assets, making it less likely that those criminals can fund further crime. These proceeds are then returned to state and local law enforcement to continue the fight against crime in Oklahoma."

During the past year, more than $835,000 has been hared with state and local law enforcement agencies, including the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the Lawton Police Department, the Choctaw Police Department, the Oklahoma City Police Department, the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office, Edmond Police Department, El Reno Police Department, Moore Police Department, Norman Police Department, Cleveland County Sheriff's Office, Stephens County Sheriff's Office, Midwest City Police Department, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the District 23 District Attorney's Office and the Alva Police Department.

In addition to amounts already distributed, another $2,216,432 is currently pending for shared distribution with Oklahoma state and local law enforcement from forfeiture work last year in the U.S. Attorney's Office, Richter said.

Tom Blakey 366-3540 tblakey@normantranscript.com