Residents in Rogers County who have held onto rented DVDs long after the due date are receiving letters from the county District Attorney’s Office seeking payment.
The letters, from District Attorney Matt Ballard’s office, are part of a diversion program that allows his office to recoup funds for businesses while avoiding filing charges. Brian Surber, first assistant district attorney, said the program is meant to help businesses who rely on rented property to make a living.
“We have merchants that depend on those movies, and if we have hundreds of movies that people just kind of keep, then that is a huge loss to the people out here striving trying to make a living,” Surber said.
Michelle Lowry, spokeswoman for Ballard’s office, said a report detailing the exact number of missing movies was not available this week, though the number is estimated to be about 600.
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Offenders must pay for the cost of the DVD, which is typically about $20, a $25 late fee, which Lowry said is given to the vendor for the amount of time the movie was not able to be rented out, and $189 to the DA’s Office, which goes to court and prosecution fees, a Law Library Fund and a Sheriff’s Office fee.
If the estimated number of missing DVDs is correct, the total amount owed by Rogers County residents could top $140,000.
Before the diversion program existed, the district attorney would file charges against offenders. Surber said that set-up wasn’t ideal.
“I don’t want to act like it’s a serious crime, but the only option would be charging them,” he said. “It’s not something we want to do.”
Offenders can set up payment plans through the diversion program.
“The whole objective is, we don’t want to file charges and clog up the court system, so we really make every effort to set people up with payment plans,” Surber said.
Only one vendor in Rogers County, Super Video near West Fifth Street and North Missouri Avenue in Claremore, is being represented by the program.
The DA’s Office has a database that can track people down. Surber said vendors don’t have access to that level of data.
“We get (the cases) when people have fallen off the grid and won’t return the calls,” he said.
