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Economic
crime takes place in all segments of business. It was once thought that economic
crime only occurred in large financial centers. This could not be further from
the truth. Economic crime can be as simple as an employee "tapping the till" to
a complex computer fraud. No matter the location, urban or rural, manufacturing
or agricultural, sophisticated criminals continually develop schemes to steal
from the un-alert.
In years past, such complex crimes overwhelmed local law enforcement. The mass
of paper, bookkeeping records, computer output and the lack of understanding
about legal concepts often placed significant road blocks to detection,
investigation and eventual prosecution. In response to the growth of this type
of crime and appreciating its difficulties, the Office of the District Attorney
developed a White Collar Crime Unit in 1996, dedicated to the prosecution of
economic crime.
The White Collar Crime Unit has undertaken numerous cases of
embezzlement, conflict of interest, political, and commercial
crimes.
This unit has the expertise and ability to take a case from
filing through sentencing. Experienced and trained prosecutors are
assigned to this unit. These cases often take weeks just to read,
then the process of determining a course of action begins. The
Deputy District Attorneys and the investigators assigned to these
cases are specialized and dedicated to prosecuting white collar
crime.
The White Collar Crime Unit consists of three prosecutors and one
supervising attorney. Operating primarily out of our Visalia Office,
the White Collar Crime Unit is part of a larger division, the Civil
and Financial Crimes Division. This Division is responsible for the
prosecution of cases which come within our White Collar Crime,
Workers' Compensation, Auto Insurance Fraud, Auto Theft, Rural
Crime, Welfare Fraud and Consumer Fraud programs. This Division also
contains the Public Administrator position for our office.
While this Division operates primarily out of our Visalia Office,
it handles cases throughout the entire county. This division
utilizes a vertical prosecution team approach in the handling of
cases which means that the same team member works on the case from
beginning to end. |
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