State audit: Suffolk probation department held on to $1.3 million that should have gone to crime victims
New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli Credit: Jeff Bachner
Suffolk County's Probation Department is holding on to nearly $1.3 million in restitution funds, some of which date back nearly three decades, that should have been dispersed years ago to crime victims, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in an audit released Tuesday.
The review, from January 2018 through June 2019, also looked at money collected from defendants by 13 county probation departments statewide in more than 340 restitution cases totaling $2.8 million. It found that 160 cases, or nearly half of the probationers, were behind on their payments by a total of almost $284,000.
Courts were often not notified of the defendants' failure to pay restitution, auditors said, because of flaws in departmental policy or because officials failed to follow their own rules.
Meanwhile, county departments that successfully collected the court-ordered compensation — requiring a defendant on probation to pay their victim for losses or damages sustained as a result of the their crime — did not make "reasonable efforts" to locate the intended recipient or could not identify the source of funds in their restitution account, auditors said.
"Restitution is a key part of the legal process that allows crime victims to recoup losses caused by the crime," DiNapoli said. "County probation departments need to step up their efforts to make sure that victims are getting the funds they deserve."
Nearly half of the county departments tested did not maintain complete lists of unsatisfied restitution orders and more than 75% could not identify the source of all the money in their restitution accounts, the report said.
Restitution can include reimbursement for medical bills, counseling expenses, loss of earnings and the replacement of stolen or damaged property.
In total, probation departments across the state had approximately $1.6 million languishing on deposit — more than 80% from Suffolk, including some funds which have been held by the county for 27 years, the report said.
In addition, half of the 44 Suffolk restitution orders examined in the audit had uncollected payments of nearly $48,000 while 870 outstanding checks, totaling $179,159, were not properly followed up on or recorded accurately, auditors said.
By law, if a crime victim cannot be located, the funds should be used to pay other victims with unpaid restitution orders.
Suffolk officials did not respond to requests for comment on the findings. But in an agency response included in the audit, the department said the reimbursement policies, developed by the previous probation director, "appear ill-suited to current departmental philosophy and need. … The department is actively undergoing efforts to establish a comprehensive restitution policy that will be detailed in the corrective action plan."
The report did not examine probation cases in Nassau County.
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
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