Mass asset forfeiture trust fund balance sheets (Northwestern District Attorney's Office)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:

The balance sheet for all deposits into and disbursements from your office's asset forfeiture trust fund during the 2013 fiscal year. The balance sheets are usually maintained as an Excel file, and should therefore be easy to send electronically.

I request that all fees be waived for this request as I am a journalist -- employed by the Boston Globe -- and intend to use any pertinent information I receive as a result of this request to educate the public on the workings of the government, namely the state's asset forfeiture practices.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Todd Feathers

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 29, 2014. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thank you for your help.