Prosecutions for September 2018
Referring Agency: Social Security Administration
Table 1. Criminal Prosecutions
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during September 2018 the government reported 67 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 down 6.9 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 2018 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in
the previous year, the number of filings was up (34.8%).
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 21.6 percent from levels reported in 2013.
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 September 2018 was for "Fraud-Federal Program", accounting for 47.8 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Theft-Government Property" (16.4%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (16.4%), "Fraud-Other" (4.5%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (3%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3%).
See Figure 2.
Figure 2. Specific Types of Prosecutions
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In September 2018, 2 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.
In the magistrate courts in September the most frequently cited lead charge was
Title 18 U.S.C Section 19 involving "Petty Offense Defined". This was the lead charge
for 50 percent of all magistrate filings in September.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In September 2018, 65 defendants in new cases
for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during September there
were an additional 4 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 September.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters
filed in U.S. District Court during September 2018 referred by the Social Security Administration.
Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Public money, property or records" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.
"Public money, property or records" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Fed Old Age, Survivors & Disab Insur -Penalties" under Title 42 U.S.C Section 408.
"Fed Old Age, Survivors & Disab Insur -Penalties" under Title 42 U.S.C Section 408 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd were "Bank Fraud" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 and "Fraudulent acts; penalties; restitution" under Title 42 U.S.C Section 1383.
"Fraudulent acts; penalties; restitution" under Title 42 U.S.C Section 1383 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 6 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest
increase in prosecutions — up 150 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028
that involves " Fraud and related activity - id documents ".
Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 125 percent — was registered for
prosecutions under " Fraud/false statements or entries generally " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1001 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest
decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 14.3 percent — was
" Fraudulent acts; penalties; restitution " (Title 42 U.S.C Section 1383 ).
This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 75 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In September 2018 the Justice Department said the government brought 25.6 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.
Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Eastern District of California (Sacramento) and Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) — with 5 prosecutions — were the most active during September 2018.
District of Maryland 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 September 2018 are shown in Table 4.
A total of 18 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings , while the remaining 23 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 41 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander in the District of Maryland ranked 1st with 4 defendants in cases.
Judges Kimberly Jo Mueller in the Eastern District of California (Sacramento), Paul Lewis Maloney in the Western District of Michigan (Grand Rapids), Rodney W. Sippel in the Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) and Gray Hampton Miller in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 2nd with 3 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: October 22, 2018