The Utah Attorney General’s Office is “sounding the alarm” that any further budget cuts will affect its ability to investigate and prosecute some types of crimes, leaving victims without justice, reports the Deseret News. Kirk Torgensen, chief deputy Utah attorney general, said the crisis happened when legislators cut additional funding the office needed to handle a “mind-boggling” influx of mortgage fraud cases.
Torgensen said the agency has typically taken on complex white-collar investigations that can take up to nine months to complete before determining whether charges are warranted. That amount of work has the potential to overwhelm local police agencies and county attorneys, he added. “The attorney general’s office has often filled that vacuum. It’s something we’ve done with pride,” Torgensen said. “Now we haven’t got the resources to go after all the requests we are getting.”