By Andrew Carr
The Sentinel
CARLISLE, Pa. — It took more than 15 years for one Cumberland County couple to get what they were owed.
Michelle Sibert, executive director of the Cumberland County Victim Services Division of the District Attorney’s Office, explained that Joyce McComas, who spoke at the organization’s annual Victim’s Rights Rally in April, had hired her husband’s son and girlfriend to work at their business — before the two stole tens of thousands of dollars from the business.
The two went through the court system and were sentenced in 1996, but when they relocated to another state, they stopped paying the restitution.
“As years went by, this defendant, the man in particular, would call his stepmother and essentially taunt her and say, ‘I owe this money I’m never paying it back, I’m living in Florida in a big house with a pool, I’m doing great and you are never getting your money,’” Sibert said.
McComas contacted Victims Services and eventually a warrant was issued for the two defendants for non-payment.
On July 25, 2013 — more than 15 years later — the District Attorney’s Office sent federal marshals after the defendants.
The man was arrested in Michigan on a business trip and returned to Cumberland County, which led to $54,000 in restitution being collected very quickly, Sibert said.
It’s an example of how the county was able to help one couple, but also an example of the challenges that lie in collecting costs owed to a victim of a crime.
Less than a quarter of fines, costs and restitution in Cumberland County is paid by defendants, according to officials.
When defendants are sentenced, they are ordered to pay fines and costs, as well as restitution, which is money owed to the victim of a crime, for damages or lost property.
District Attorney David Freed said restitution in Pennsylvania is guaranteed by the crimes code.
“The purpose of restitution is to put the crime victim in the position that he or she was in prior to the crime happening,” he said. “So in the very basic sense if someone stole $100 from you and we proved that and convicted that person of theft, that person would be ordered to pay you back your $100 as part of the sentence in a criminal case.”
By Pennsylvania law, restitution also has to be paid first, before fines and court costs, he said.
Sibert said they meet with victims at the preliminary hearing, providing them with paperwork to fill out for restitution.
She said proof is needed when applying for restitution, whether it be receipts for items stolen or medical expenses. From there, the amount is totaled up and turned over to both prosecution and defense.
Challenges
Freed said there are considerable challenges when restitution is involved, mainly the defendant’s ability to pay.
“The amount of restitution does not take into consideration somebody’s ability to pay,” he said. “You are ordered to pay back what you stole or the damage that you caused, regardless of your resources. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, whatever amount you stole or damaged, you have to pay that back.”
He said people don’t generally commit crimes if they have significant resources. Instead, they steal or commit crimes because they are in need of funds.
“Payment of restitution and costs and fines secondarily is a problem in every court system because many of the people who commit the crimes don’t have the wherewithal to pay,” he said. “Very often people who commit crimes do not have significant resources. And they steal more money or they cause more damage far beyond the resources they have to pay back. Sometimes people can pay restitution right away, and that’s great, but more often than not, it has to be forced out of them.”
In order to get the defendant to pay back the amount in a timely manner, payment plans are often implemented, he said.
“Now, the manner and amounts in which it is paid back, such as a payment plan or the amount of the payment plan, that varies, because that is where someone’s situation and resources is supposed to be taken into account when a judge as part of a probation or parole sentence orders payment,” he said.
But for victims who see payments coming in little by little, that can be frustrating.
“Unfortunately, often people who have been damaged financially, they see payments coming in a few dollars at a time, and that can be incredibly frustrating for victims,” he said.
Freed said restitution is an important part of the rehabilitation process.
“It has always been my feeling and what I’ve argued, is that paying what you owe is a very important part of your supervision, whether you are on probation or parole, that should be part-in-parcel of what you are doing,” he said.
He said it is important for defendants to understand the financial ramifications of their actions.
“Defense attorneys like to argue you can’t get blood from a stone,” he said. “One of the things that we argue back is that if someone can buy beer or cigarettes, they can take some of that money and put it toward the restitution to their victim.”
Enforcement
Collections of payment is a conditions of sentence, and is enforced by the Probation/Parole Office, Freed said.
Non-payment is a violation of these court-ordered conditions, which can lead to revocation of a defendant’s probation or parole.
“There are literally thousands of people that they have to deal with on non-payments,” Freed said.
Officials with the Probation/Parole Office declined to comment regarding collections, referring all comment to the Court Administrator’s Office.
Melissa Calvanelli, district court administrator, said Cumberland County recently hired a collections coordinator, Mike Hinkle, to work with the agencies involved in payments and coordinate a clear path in collecting what is due.
Calvanelli said Hinkle’s sole purpose is to prioritize collections and work with other agencies to see that those collections are increased.
She said the issue was brought to their attention through the Public Financial Management study that was conducted in 2013, and showed that collections had been dropping steadily for years.
She said first-year collections in 2007 were at 51 percent, and had dropped to 21 percent in 2013.
“It’s a look at how we are doing things, what we can change, what new tools that we can use,” Calvanelli said. “It’s going to be a slow process of implementing change in how we treat defendants and how we treat the collections piece.”
While she declined to speak on specifics, Calvanelli said Hinkle is working closely with all the agencies involved in discussing ideas and different tactics to increase collections.
Directly under the supervision of the courts, the collections coordinator’s task is to increase the collection efforts of all the organizations involved.
Freed said the coordinator’s task is to distill a defendant’s information to make sure all involved have the best information regarding the person’s resources, and how best to formulate a payment plan.
“The restitution coordinator is going to spend some time diving into peoples’ finances to make sure that we are setting realistic payment plans so that people who can pay more should pay more to make sure that we get restitution paid,” he said.
The position, funded through county funds, will become a self-supporting position if collections are increase by only 2 percent, Calvanelli said.
“We really don’t have to increase collections that much in order to fully pay for the position out of increased collections,” she said. “So a very small number in increased collections will basically make the position self-funding.”