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The Baxter County Sheriff’s Office has surpassed $4 million in restitution paid to crime victims since 2005, Sheriff John Montgomery announced this week.
Montgomery said the collections effort has been a focus of his administration, carried out alongside parole and probation officers, prosecutors and judges who issue and enforce court-ordered fines and restitution.
“If a person was a victim of a crime, and we are able to investigate, arrest, convict and have a Judge order restitution be paid, the very least we as law enforcement should do is use every means available to us to collect the restitution and pay it back to the victim,” Montgomery said.
He acknowledged the limits of financial recovery.
“Money will not replace the emotional trauma of the crime victim, but it can help. Otherwise, they become a victim a second time,” Montgomery said.
Some active cases date to the late 1980s, and locating victims or their surviving family members has become difficult. State law requires the Sheriff’s Office to forward unclaimed restitution, with case details, to the Arkansas Auditor of State when no recipient can be found.
Since 2016, the office has sent $5,628 to the state on behalf of 19 victims it could not locate.
