David Anderson, U.S. Attorney for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM

The number of defendants charged by federal prosecutors in the Northern District of California jumped significantly in the fiscal year that closed at the end of September, according to internal numbers from the U.S. attorney's office.

U.S. Attorney David Anderson shared the internal figures with assistant U.S. attorneys in the office's Criminal Division on Thursday and with local leaders of the six major federal law enforcement agencies Monday.

According to the internal charging statistics drawn from the U.S. Attorneys' Case Management System, known internally as Case View, the Northern District saw 671 criminal defendants charged last year, a more than 24% jump from the 540 defendants charged in the year prior.

"The 2019 case charging statistics reflect an equal balance of expanded outreach and operational improvements," Anderson said in a phone interview Tuesday.

A large portion of the increase, according to the internal numbers, came from a 35% increase in the number of defendants charged in cases involving violent crime—220 compared to 163 in the year prior. In particular, Anderson said Tuesday, that biggest contributor to the spike in violent crimes prosecution was an increase in gun prosecutions. "Last year we charged more gun crimes than any year for which I have records," Anderson said.

The overall increases come just about nine months into Anderson's tenure as U.S. attorney. Anderson has made changes to increase the speed with which prosecutors make charging decisions and resolve cases. He has also installed a "county captain" system, where certain AUSAs establish relationships with officials in the 15 counties in the district to determine when federal resources might be needed, especially in cases outside the major metropolitan centers of Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco. Anderson said Tuesday that the latest charging statistics reflect an increase in new cases filed across all 15 counties.

While the Justice Department as a whole reported a record number of immigration-related prosecutions last year, immigration prosecutions in the Northern District of California stayed relatively flat. The latest DOJ numbers show that U.S. Attorneys' Offices nationwide charged 25,426 defendants with felony illegal reentry in last year, an increase of 8.5% over the prior year. Over the same period, Northern California prosecutors charged 37 defendants with illegal reentry, two fewer than the year prior, or a drop of about 5%.

On the white-collar front, the office reported a nearly 9% jump in the number of defendants charged—111 compared to 102 in the prior fiscal year. The office in September, the last month of the fiscal year, charged 30 defendants including two corporate defendants and 28 individuals by complaint in a case accusing Amity Home Health, the Bay Area's largest home health care agency, of engaging in a multimillion-dollar scheme to pay for referrals for Medicare patients. Those 30 defendants, however, were not included in the FY2019 Case View statistics since the internal numbers count only defendants who have been charged by indictment or information.

Anderson said Tuesday that the office's "objective is to maximize our service to the community" and that the charging statistics are just one measure of that service. He said that the office has made 12 new assistant U.S. attorney hires since June and has an additional eight new AUSAs set to start in the next quarter.

"The momentum and the power reflected in that new hiring we will see in the coming year," Anderson said.