Report: Fed Case Load Up in South Dakota in 2012

SIOUX FALLS - A new report released by the U.S. Attorney's Office in South Dakota says crime in Indian Country accounted for more than half of the case load for federal prosecutors in 2012.

The U.S. Attorney's Office released its 2012 annual report Thursday.

Of the 769 cases filed last calendar year, 46 percent were for violent crime on the state's nine Indian reservations and 7 percent were for non-violent cases on the reservations. Immigration cases accounted for 13 percent of filed cases, while drug cases accounted for 11 percent.

In Fiscal Year 2012, the U.S. Attorney's Office filed 552 cases involving 711 defendants. Compared to 2008, this is a 23 percent increase in the number of new cases filed and a 27 percent increase in the number of defendants.

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