Sentinel Offender Services Accused of Charging Illegal Probation Fees

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

Two Georgia residents have filed suit against private probation company Sentinel Offender Services, LLC and three of its executives claiming that they illegally charged a $20 “enrollment fee” to people sentenced to “pay-only” probation after being unable to pay court-ordered fines.

The suit alleges that Sentinel contracted with the Atlanta Municipal Court to supervise people on probation, including, as in the plaintiffs’ cases, those who were unable to pay fines for minor traffic violations. According to its contract with the court, Sentinel was permitted to charge a $20 “enrollment fee” only to those who paid off their fines within 30 days and, because they paid their fines upfront, were not required to pay the company’s monthly “supervision fee,” the case claims. The defendants, however, allegedly interpreted their contract to mean that they were permitted to charge enrollment fees for every case they handled, regardless of whether the individual paid his or her fines within the 30-day window. The plaintiffs – both single parents – were unable to pay their fines within the first 30 days of their sentences and were therefore exempt from the enrollment fee that Sentinel demanded before closing their cases, the suit argues.

According to the complaint, the Department of Community Supervision (DSC) audited Sentinel’s operations in August 2016. The regulatory agency concluded that Sentinel was not permitted to charge the extra enrollment fees, despite the company’s attempts to persuade an Atlanta judge to authorize the charges, the suit says. Sentinel allegedly terminated its contract with the court in January of 2017, claiming its business in Atlanta was “financially no longer feasible to operate,” according to the complaint. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants never surrendered their illegally collected enrollment fees and violated the United States Constitution, along with several other laws, by charging and retaining the fees.