Every sheriff in Oklahoma being sued over unpaid fees going to collection

A debt-collection system in Oklahoma that routinely throws indigent people in jail for failing to pay state court fines and costs is illegal and amounts to an extortion scheme, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Tulsa by two Tulsa-based law firms, seeks class-action status on behalf of indigent criminal defendants who “are victims of an extortion scheme in which the defendants have conspired to extract as much money as possible … through a pattern of illegal and shocking behavior.”

The lawsuit names the Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association, every Oklahoma county sheriff and Aberdeen Enterprizes II Inc., a private collections company.

“In the United States of America you can’t put people in jail because they’re too poor, and that’s what’s happening here,” said Dan Smolen, one of the attorneys initiating the lawsuit filed on behalf of indigent defendants in criminal cases.

Read more: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/every-sheriff-in-oklahoma-being-sued-over-unpaid-fees-going/article_ffae758c-1287-5791-b7ea-eff2dde4bd03.html