MO Western District U.S. attorney collections up 10%

Collections from federal criminal and civil actions in the Western District of Missouri totaled more than $26.5 million in fiscal 2013, up 10 percent from $24 million collected in fiscal 2012.

More than $14.8 million was collected in criminal actions; $6.2 million was collected in civil actions; and nearly $5.5 million was collected through the seizure of assets that were forfeited to the government, according to a news release from the office of Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

The forfeiture of 5,585 lamps seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, valued at roughly $1.8 million, from Springfield-based home furnishings manufacturer GuildMaster Inc. contributed to the total. GuildMaster, represented in court by company CEO Steve Crowder, pleaded guilty in July to trafficking in goods with counterfeit marks.

Dickson points to another Ozarks case, U.S. v. David W. Scott, which netted $182,617 when Scott pleaded guilty to his role in a conspiracy to distribute K2 from his Mountain Grove-based convenience store Country Express.

The Western District office also worked with other U.S. attorney’s offices and components of the Department of Justice to collect an additional $10.6 million in cases pursued jointly, primarily in civil actions.

“The pursuit of justice involves not only prosecuting criminals, but being diligent to collect the fines levied by the court and restitution payments on behalf of the victims of crime,” Dickinson said in the release.

In total, the Justice Department collected approximately $8.1 billion in civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2013, nearly three times the appropriated $2.76 billion budget for the 94 U.S. attorney’s offices and the main litigating divisions in that same period, according to the release.