Igbinovia v. State

*701OPINION

By the Court,

Shearing, J.:

These consolidated appeals require us to decide whether district court judges possess the statutory authority to order a person convicted of violating the narcotics laws of this state to reimburse the arresting authorities for the outlay of “buy money,” the funds expended by police departments to obtain conclusive evidence of an offender’s guilt, either by imposing the requirement as part of the sentence or as a condition of probation.

We hold that the restitution portion of the sentencing statute does not accord the authority to order restitution of “buy…