Prosecutions for February 2024
Referring Agency: Social Security Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2024 the government reported 23 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Social Security Administration. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 130 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged are based on case-by-case information obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (see Table 1).
When monthly 2024 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was the same. Prosecutions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are down 54 percent from levels reported in 2019.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Prosecutions
The decrease from the levels five years ago in prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of prosecutions of this type recorded on a month-to-month basis. Where a prosecution was initially filed in U.S. Magistrate Court and then transferred to the U.S. District Court, the magistrate filing date was used since this provides an earlier indicator of actual trends. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. The one and five-year rates of change in Table 1 and in the sections that follow are all based upon this six-month moving average. To view trends year-by-year rather than month-by-month, see TRAC's annual report series for a broader picture.
Cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
The largest number of prosecutions of these matters in February 2024 was for "Theft-Government Property", accounting for 34.8 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Federal Program" (30.4%), "Fraud-Other" (8.7%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (8.7%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (4.3%), "Government Property-Crimes Against" (4.3%), "Money Laundering-Other" (4.3%), "Violence-Other" (4.3%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In February 2024, no defendants in cases for these matters were filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. These courts handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In addition, complaints are sometimes filed in the magistrate courts before an indictment or information is entered. In these cases, the matter starts in the magistrate courts and later moves to the district court where subsequent proceedings take place.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2024, 23 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February there were an additional 3 defendants whose cases moved from the magistrate courts to the U.S. district courts after an indictment or information was filed. The sections which follow cover both sets of cases and therefore cover all matters filed in district court during February.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during February 2024 referred by the Social Security Administration.
Lead Charge Count Rank 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 17 1 More 18 USC 115 - Influencing, impeding, or retaliating against a Federal official 2 2 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 2 2 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 1 4 More 18 USC 1960 - Prohibition of illegal money transmitting business 1 4 More 41 CFR 102-74.380c - Theft of Government Property 1 4 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Public money, property or records" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.
Ranked 2nd in frequency were the lead charges "Influencing, impeding, or retaliating against a Federal official" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 115 and "Fraud by wire, radio, or television" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In February 2024 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 9.4 prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of prosecutions of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
Judicial District Count Rank Mo, E 3 1 More N. J. 3 1 More Ala, S 2 3 More Alaska 2 3 More Oregon 2 3 More Texas, S 2 3 More Ala, M 1 7 More Ark, E 1 7 More Cal, S 1 7 More Colorado 1 7 More Fla, M 1 7 More Ind, N 1 7 More Ken, W 1 7 More Ohio, S 1 7 More Penn, W 1 7 More Tenn, W 1 7 More Virgin Is 1 7 More Wash, E 1 7 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) and District of New Jersey — with 3 prosecutions — were the most active during February 2024.
Southern District of Alabama (Mobile), District of Alaska, District of Oregon and Southern District of Texas (Houston) are now ranking 3rd.
Top Ranked District Judges
At any one time, there are about 680 federal District Court judges working in the United States. The judges recorded with the largest number of new crime cases of this type during February 2024 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Sippel, Rodney W. Mo, E 3 1 More Cecchi, Claire Claudia N. J. 2 2 More Lake, Simeon Timothy, III Texas, S 2 2 More Moorer, Terry Fitzgerald Ala, S 1 4 More Gleason, Sharon Louise Alaska 1 4 More Scoble, Mathew M. Alaska 1 4 More Moody, James Maxwell, Jr. Ark, E 1 4 More Bashant, Cynthia Ann Cal, S 1 4 More Antoon, John, II Fla, M 1 4 More Leichty, Damon Ray Ind, N 1 4 More Stivers, Gregory N. Ken, W 1 4 More Hopkins, Jeffery Paul Ohio, S 1 4 More Immergut, Karin Johanna Oregon 1 4 More Fowlkes, John Thomas, Jr. Tenn, W 1 4 More Bastian, Stanley Allen Wash, E 1 4 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 15 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings. (Because of ties, there were a total of 15 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Rodney W. Sippel in the Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) ranked 1st with 3 defendants in cases.
Judges Claire Claudia Cecchi in the District of New Jersey and Simeon Timothy Lake, III in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 2nd with 2 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: April 3, 2024
