Thousands collected for victims

Published 12:00 am Saturday, February 28, 2015

The district attorney’s office collected $46,678 in restitution and $56,524 in worthless checks this month.

The totals, released yesterday by the DA’s office after days of social media hype about round-ups, was $16,014 more than the same period last year, when $30,664 was collected for restitution. It was $27,325 more than was collected in the same period last year for worthless checks.

A statement from the DA’s office said, “Because collection of restitution owed to victims is our primary focus (as opposed to putting people in jail), we have made contact with dozens of people face to face; 30 people by way of social media; and tens of dozens on the phone or through email; all just this week. A significant number of those people have responded by either making payment arrangements or coming in to pay. Also, we have had numerous people contact us or come in and pay solely because they heard that we were conducting a Round Up and were serious about collections.”