COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The Branch County Prosecutor’s Office was given permission by the Board of Commissioners on Thursday to pursue a federal grant which would provide funding for an attorney who would focus on drug dealing, human trafficking and fraud being perpetrated by non-U.S. citizens.
Due to the Friday deadline for an application to be submitted, the Commissioners had to suspend board rules in order to formally approve the request.
Branch County Prosecutor Victor Fitz told Commissioners that the Department of Justice will provide all of the funding and fringe benefits for the attorney who would be a Branch County employee and work out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Grand Rapid as a federal assistant prosecutor.
Fitz says the grant would be for three years or more and would provide up to 20 percent additional for incidentals.
If Branch County gets the grant funding, Fitz says the attorney would facilitate greater coordination of these prosecution efforts between the county and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan.
He stated methamphetamine has been coming into Michigan for the last decade particularly in the southern part of the state from the Mexican cartels and that a significant number of those engaged in the meth dealing pipeline are non-citizens.
Fitz stated in his letter to County Administrator Frank Walsh, “They are obviously profiting greatly from and having a significant detrimental impact on those vulnerable and susceptible to drug use, including Branch County. Similarly, the vast majority of cocaine, heroin, and other opioids impacting us have non-citizen origins and supply chains.”
Comments