U.S. Attorney’s office took in $6.5 million this year
BY Teresa Auch Schultz tauch@post-trib.com December 8, 2012 7:32PM
Updated: January 3, 2013 4:20PM
The U.S. Attorney’s office of Northern Indiana took in $6.5 million this year, part of which will eventually be paid to local police departments and funds for victims.
According to a release from the office in Hammond, federal attorneys in northern Indiana helped collect $3.1 million from criminal cases and another $3.4 million from civil cases. The office also collected $2.1 million in forfeitures.
“The U.S. Attorney’s office is dedicated to protecting the public and recovering funds for the federal treasury and for victims of federal crime,” U.S. Attorney David Capp said in the release. “We will continue to hold accountable those who seek to profit from their illegal activities.”
Mary Hatton, spokeswoman for the office, said the money is all sent to the federal treasury, which then uses formulas to decide how to divvy up the money. Some of it is used for the Crime Victims’ Fund, which is used for state victim compensation and victim assistance programs. Other proceeds will eventually go to local police departments, although Hatton said she does not know when that will happen or how much will be distributed.
No information was available on how this year’s local numbers compared to last years, but a Post-Tribune story from December 2010 reported Capp’s office collected $17.5 million in 2010. Nationally, the federal government collected $13.1 billion from all of the federal districts, more than twice the $6.5 billion the government collected in total in 2011.
