Southern District of Alabama Leads the Nation in Returning Forfeited Assets to Law Enforcement for the First Quarter of the Fiscal Year

United States Attorney Kenyen R. Brown announced today that $439,000 in forfeited assets were returned to South Alabama law enforcement agencies in the first quarter of the 2010 fiscal year, leading the nation among similarly-sized U.S. Attorney’s Offices. Almost all of the funds, which were distributed through the Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture program, were shared with state and local law enforcement agencies which participated in investigations with forfeitures.

“Asset forfeiture is a law enforcement tool that separates criminals from the fruits of their crimes,” Mr. Brown said. “It’s pay-as-you-go for convicted criminals, who end up funding their own investigations when their forfeited assets are returned to local law enforcement agencies upon conviction. Everybody wins.”

The $439,000 which the Southern District of Alabama shared with law enforcement agencies led the nation among 23 similarly-sized U.S. Attorney’s offices in the first quarter of fiscal year 2010. By comparison, the Middle District of North Carolina was second with $355,767.00 in assets shared, followed by the District of Vermont with $349,758.00. The $439,000 shared most recently in the Southern District of Alabama was a significant increase over the $363,000.00 shared last quarter, and it compares favorably with the $596,000.00 annual total for fiscal year 2009.