Fraud and corruption are widespread and comes in many forms. As a result, the District Attorney’s Office has several smaller units that handle a variety of financial crimes. Those units include Consumer and Environmental Protection, Real Estate Fraud, the Help Eliminate Auto Theft (HEAT) Unit, Workers’ Compensation Fraud, Auto Insurance Fraud, Rural Crimes, Identity Theft, Welfare Fraud, and Major Fraud. Many of these units only have one attorney who is responsible for handling all aspects of the case from filing through sentencing.
The Consumer and Environmental Protection Unit is unique in that in addition to criminal cases, the unit can also file civil cases and seek financial settlements. In fiscal year 2019-2020, the unit generated $157,639 in settlements from companies like Pep Boys and Walker Farms. In 2020-2021, settlements generated $429,778 from companies including CarMax, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kelly Moore, Walgreens, Chewy, and Ross, and in 2021-2022, settlements brought in $435,263 from companies including Copart, Pong Marketing, and Holland.