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Millions of dollars are literally
stolen from businesses and individuals in Tarrant County every year. This
crime occurs not with a gun or threats of violence, but with a simple piece
of paper and a pen. It is the criminal offense of "Theft-by-Check". The
unique nature of this offense is that the victim usually does not know
he or she is a victim of a crime until several weeks after the initial
event took place. Further, this particular criminal offense often has a
"ripple" effect on the public in that the original criminal conduct not
only impacts the original victim, but in the case of a merchant victim,
the loss is frequently passed on to the consumers making them victims as
well.
When Criminal District Attorney Tim Curry took office, he recognized
the need to provide assistance to the victims of this yearly multi-million
dollar "rip-off" and establish a effective system to prosecute criminal
hot check writers. Thus the Worthless Check Section was created.
Since 1975, the District
Attorney’s Office has collected in excess of
$70,000,000 in restitution for worthless checks
written to businesses in our community.
The Worthless Check Section, under Mr. Curry's direction
has grown to be the largest department of this type in the State of Texas.
It has been in the forefront in developing innovative methods and means
to accomplish it goals of attempting to make the victims whole by obtaining
restitution for their hot check losses, establishing techniques and training
for use by businesses to avoid hot check losses and prosecuting criminal
hot check writers.
Additionally, the office has provided leadership in drafting and obtaining
new laws regarding worthless checks and related matters. It has established
procedures and guidelines which have been adopted not only by other prosecutor
offices in Texas, but other states as well. It has become a resource
office in providing assistance to law enforcement and prosecuting agencies.
In the year 2006, the Tarrant County Criminal District
Attorney's Office collected over $2.1M in worthless
check restitution in addition to obtaining criminal
case probations or jail time for an additional $1M
plus dollars more. |