United States Attorney Will Thompson announced that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia collected $2,344,556.85 in criminal and civil actions in Fiscal Year 2023. Of this amount, $2,231,245.48 was collected in criminal actions and $113,311.37 was collected in civil actions.
“This money is owed from criminal and civil penalties as well as court-ordered restitution and ultimately benefits crime victims and taxpayers,” Thompson said.
The $2,231,245.48 collected in criminal actions includes a $75,000 fine and $280,088 in restitution paid by Christopher Daniels, 54, of Parkersburg, who was also sentenced to one year and one day in prison on December 15, 2022, after pleading guilty to for filing a false federal income tax return. The criminal collections total also includes $382,449.47 in restitution paid by Dhanraj Singh, 63, of Bowie, Maryland, who was also sentenced to two years and three months in prison on December 31, 2022, after pleading guilty to interstate transportation of stolen property. The criminal collections total also includes a $25,000 fine and $175,000 in restitution paid by Michael James Peters, 43, of Concord, North Carolina, who was also sentenced to one year in prison on February 2, 2023, after pleading guilty to making a false statement to a representative of the United States Department of Agriculture. The $175,000 is part of the $1,375,000 in court-ordered restitution owed by Peters.
The U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, along with the U.S. Department of Justice’s litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S. and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss. While restitution is paid to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the department’s Crime Victims Fund, which distributes the funds collected to federal and state victim compensation and victim assistance programs.
Finally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $1,073,483 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2023. Forfeited assets deposited into the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.
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