Restitution often proves elusive
In a month, Matthew Hoyo likely will be sent to prison and ordered to repay nearly $400,000 he stole from Kathryn Thalman and her mother in an investment scam.
But Thalman doesn’t expect a dime.
“He’s never had a job, and he’s got nothing in his name,” Thalman, of St. Clairsville, said.
In fact, Hoyo, who pleaded guilty in federal court in October to mail fraud and money laundering, lived in the basement of his parents’ Belmont County home.
“Maybe she’ll get lucky and he’ll win the lottery,” said U. S. District Judge Michael H. Watson, who’s presiding over Hoyo’s case.
Former Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Pat Sheeran had the same assessment last year when he ordered an arsonist to repay the owner of a West Side warehouse $ 3.8 million.
So why order large restitution amounts when defendants don’t have bulging bank accounts and victims might see only pennies on the dollar?
“Because restitution is mandatory, and the law says victims are entitled to full restitution,” Watson said of the federal law.
How much is collected is up to people such as Bethany Hamilton, who oversees the financial- litigation unit for the U. S. attorney’s office for Southern Ohio.
“If somebody has had a lot of money run through their hands, we know it’s somewhere,” she said. “They kept something somewhere.”
Hamilton said she remembers one defendant saying he didn’t believe in banks. Investigators found $200,000 in his sock drawer.
Restitution is mandatory in federal cases and must be based on the actual loss.
Financial- litigation team members search myriad government and public records searching for money. Some techniques, however, they won’t discuss. “We don’t want defendants to know all the capabilities we have,” Hamilton said.
If you have a job, chances are the state has a record of your withholding tax and your employer, which could lead to garnished wages or even a retirement account. No creditor except the Internal Revenue Service can seize retirement and pension money, Hamilton said.
If you start a business, there are licenses and permits you are supposed to fill out. Buy a car and the loan papers and title pop up.
The financial- litigation unit recovered $ 102 million in 2015 and $ 46 million last year in central and southern Ohio. The unit has 3,470 open criminal cases and 211 civil cases.
Trying to hide assets by transferring them to a child or spouse during a divorce also raises a red flag, Hamilton said.
Those sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution must give up a portion of the pay they earn behind bars.
“Some of them had six figures in their commissary accounts,” Hamilton said of inmates, some of whom were committing crimes while in prison and depositing their take in those accounts.
There is no lengthy period during which to collect restitution in state court, said Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Stephen L. McIntosh.
If prosecutors ask for restitution on behalf of a victim, a hearing is held to discuss the amount.
“I would love if there were some means to continue to push the person to pay restitution” beyond the usual three to five years they’re on probation, McIntosh said.
Now, after probation, the onus is on the victim to file a civil lawsuit to seek restitution, and there is no agency dedicated solely to pursuing collection.
Besides child- support cases, most restitution orders range from $10,000 to $ 15,000. Six- figure cases usually involve someone stealing from employers, McIntosh said.
“Generally speaking, when they’re caught, they have very little to show,” he said.
The largest restitution ordered in Ohio’s southern district was the Dublinbased National Century Financial Enterprises fraud, at $ 2.3 billion. The company imploded in 2002, closing 275 health- care providers and leaving investors with more than $ 1 billion in debt.
The financial- litigation unit has collected $ 3.6 million so far, some from seized real estate and other property.
It’s not always houses and cash that Hamilton’s team uncovers.
Jerome Rabinowitz of New York paid $492,024 in restitution and fines for supplying substandard parts to the military. It included a 5.29- carat diamond ring the government sold for $ 94,241.
In 2013, Hitachi Automotive paid a $ 195 million fine for price- fixing parts, then was hit with an additional $ 55.8 million fine, which it finished paying in March.
The financial- litigation unit can’t guarantee full payment on restitution and fines. But its efforts are sometimes applauded by victims, said U. S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman.
“It may be only nickels on the dollar,” Glassman said, but they appreciate that someone is combing defendants’ finances, work records and home sales for the next 20 years.
At the same time, Thalman doesn’t expect to recoup much of what she lost to Hoyo.
She had quit a lucrative pharmaceutical- sales career to live with and care for her ailing mother, who died in March. Now, she can’t afford to keep the home, or her horse, Leo.
“He destroyed my life,” she said of Hoyo. “He can’t get enough years in prison.”