A private company increases debts by 30 percent, then tells Oklahomans to pay up or go to jail. Law enforcement is in its pocket, a new lawsuit claims.
By Kelly Weill
Ira Wilkins should be a free man. Wilkins has served his
time in an Oklahoma prison and is clear for release. But a private court
fee collections agency is keeping him behind bars.
Wilkins
is the lead plaintiff in a new racketeering lawsuit against the
Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association, every sheriff’s department in the state,
and the court fee collections firm Aberdeen Enterprizes II. When
Oklahomans owe court fees, their case is assigned to Aberdeen, which
charges them an additional 30 percent on top of what courts want. If
they don’t pay, Aberdeen requests a warrant for the debtor’s arrest.
It’s big business for Aberdeen and the Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association, which received more than $800,000 from Aberdeen in 2015.
But
while Aberdeen and the OSA strike it rich, poor Oklahomans are
languishing in modern day debtors prison, the lawsuit alleges.
“These
plaintiffs are victims of an extortion scheme in which the Defendants
have conspired to extract as much money as possible from indigent people
through a pattern of illegal and unconscionable behavior,” the suit
filed last week in federal court alleges.
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Source: The Daily Beast
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