Opinion
Case No. 94-40002-01-SAC
August 26, 2003
ORDER DIRECTING DEPOSIT OF RESTITUTION MONIES TO CRIME VICTIMS FUND
The case comes before the court on the Motion Of The United States For An Order Directing Distribution Of Restitution Monies To Victims By The U.S. District Court Clerk. (Dk. 57). No response or objection to this motion has been filed. Having reviewed the pleading and being otherwise sufficiently advised, the court issues the following as its ruling.
When it sentenced the defendant, the court ordered restitution in the amount of $508,280.36 on the following terms:
The defendant is to begin paying his restitution by participating in the Bureau of Prisons Inmate Financial Responsibility Program while incarcerated. Any balance of restitution still owing upon the completion of the bankruptcy case, Docket No. 92-41602, shall be paid through this criminal case to the Clerk, U.S. District Court, Topeka, Kansas, under the direction of the U.S. Probation Office. Also, the Clerk is directed to disburse the restitution collected to the victims consistent to their percentage of the total loss. The Clerk's Office shall not disburse any funds until $10,000 has been collected.
(Dk. 52). The government represents that the bankruptcy court has completed its disbursements with $82,813.17 paid to 124 claimants who were also identified as victims entitled to restitution in this criminal case. Of those 124 victims, 84 received the full amount of their restitution while 40 only received partial restitution with the smallest amount paid to this latter group being $99.31. There were 270 victims identified in this case who received no monies in the bankruptcy proceeding. The government attaches as Exhibit C a list of those 270 victims and the amounts of their separate claims for restitution.
The government represents that the defendant is no longer paying restitution and that his obligation for paying restitution has expired. As of the filing of the government's motion, the Clerk of the Court had on deposit approximately $2,200 of funds paid by the defendant on his restitution obligations. Because it does not expect to receive any additional monies on the restitution order, the government asks the court to amend the criminal judgment to allow for the clerk's distribution of the $2,200 using one of several possible formulas that differ from that ordered at sentencing.
Considering the number of victims who received no disbursements in bankruptcy, the wide range of individual amounts of criminal restitution owed these uncompensated victims, and the relative small amount of funds on deposit with the clerk, the court concludes that it would be impractical to require the clerk to distribute the remaining funds on a pro rata basis. The government suggests several alternatives that include distributing the funds equally or proportionally to those victims owed the larger amounts of restitution or simply depositing the money into the crime victims fund.
In limiting the distribution to the victims owed the larger amounts, one is making the very questionable assumption that they are the victims most deserving of compensation. Any number of considerations relevant under equity could lead to different alternatives for distributing the money. The court is not able to identify certain considerations as more relevant than others under the circumstances of this case. Nor does this court believe it a prudent use of judicial resources to issue 270 checks, many of which would be for less than one dollar. The court also is mindful that many of the victims would have serious reservations about accepting the checks considering the nominal amounts involved and the tax consequences of doing so. There is every reason to believe that many of the victims would consider such checks to be a nuisance and maybe even a hardship rather than compensation.
For the above reasons, the court concludes the remaining sum on deposit with the clerk will be most likely to benefit victims of criminal activity by being deposited in the crime victims fund and distributed thereafter.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that court hereby amends its previous judgment in this case and orders that the U.S. District Court Clerk shall deposit the approximately $2,200.00 into the crime victims fund.
IT IS SO ORDERED.