Lincoln County’s Crime Surge: DA Battles Staff Shortages Amid Escalating Crime Stats

The Lincoln County District Attorney’s Office issued a news release yesterday confirming that a surge in crime during 2024 has resulted in a significant number of prosecutions by Jenna Wallace, Lincoln County’s District Attorney, with the additional attorneys added to DA staff since her appointment last year. However, the DA must still fill the Detective and  Digital Forensic Analyst positions.

 Lincoln County Crime Surged In 2024

Disturbing 2024 crime statistics show that the DA’s office filed 6,977 criminal charges last year, with a 16% increase in weapon offenses, a 53% increase in drug crimes, and an 8% increase in wildlife offenses.

These statistics also include 759 person-on-person crimes, 98 of which involved a weapon.

Since 2023, Lincoln County’s homicide rate increased by around 500% from 2023, including three officer-involved shootings and two homicides in the past six months. Currently, the total number of pending homicides in Lincoln County is six, an unprecedented number for this County.

Lincoln County District Attorney’s Offices Experience Staff Shortages

Appointed Lincoln County’s District Attorney by Governor Kotek on June 21, 2024, Wallace started with a deputy district attorney and eight vacancies in the DA’s criminal division.

However, six additional attorneys have since been employed.  The DA filed 645 criminal charges in the first 35 days of 2025- a 17% increase from the prior year.

This year, there has been a 33% increase in person-on-person crimes, a 22% increase in traffic crimes, a 16% increase in DUII crimes, and a 136% increase in drug crimes processed by the DA, which has filed 72 person-on-person charges, of which 11 involved a weapon.

Wallace’s successful trial prosecutions where the DA’s detective position was instrumental include:

• Corey Jeffcoat, who violently sexually assaulted his significant other on multiple occasions: Convicted of Sodomy in the First Degree, Rape in the First Degree, etc.
• Aubrey Skinner, who caused injury to his significant other with a PVC pipe: Convicted of Assault in the Second Degree.
• John Crowley, who smothered his girlfriend with a pillow: Convicted of Assault in the Second Degree.
• Gunner Cravens, who sexually abused a 13-year-old family member: Convicted.

Working with the Cold Case Team, the DA detective was also instrumental in solving Ryan Staggs’s homicide three years after Staggs went missing.

The Cold Case Team has received federal funding and resources from the FBI Behavior Analyst Unit (BAU) in Quantico, Virginia, and is currently working on the Kelly Disney homicide. However, the DA’s Office must still identify an internal lead detective.

This is the first time in 20 years that the office has been without any detective services after the DA’s full-time detective position became vacant on Monday, January 27, 2025. The position has been vacant three times over the past 4 years.

During this time, a second grant-funded detective position covered several gaps in services during the gaps. Still, the position lost funding in September 2024, reducing the grant-funded detective’ hours. The county later eliminated the position without discussing it with the DA’s office.

The office has also had a vacant Digital Forensic Analyst position since January 2024. The DA has been advocating to modify the position into a hybrid Digital Forensic Detective position to meet the needs of their office and Lincoln County crime victims, but while this has no budgetary impact, the County has not approved this.

The position remains vacant, but the DA’s office indicated that it is optimistic that the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners will recognize the community impact of the gap over the last week and strive to rectify this situation.