Allegheny County is owed millions of dollars in court fines, and no one is trying to collect it.
When suspects in court plead guilty or are found guilty, judges often issue fines along with their sentence. But many of those fines aren't being paid, and the county doesn't even keep track of how much money it's owed.
Michael McGeever, director of the Allegheny County court records department, said the county does not put people back in jail because of outstanding fines, but that doesn’t mean they're let off the hook. Instead, those people remain on probation.
11 Investigates looked up every “Smith” in Allegheny County's court system and found they collectively owed $3,907,659.66. The cases dated back to 1982.
The money from court fines goes to victims, various agencies and the general fund. The county tries to collect for the first few years and then turns the case over to a collection agency. Because different parts of the court system are run off different case management systems, there is no way for the county to know how much money it's owed. There's also no system in place to prevent people from running up fines for multiple cases.
The court records office said the debt stays on a person's credit report until everything is paid off, which means getting a car loan or mortgage would be more difficult.
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