U.S. Attorney’s Office adding five assistant prosecutors

The U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern District of Ohio is adding five assistant prosecutors to focus on violent crime, opioids and immigration-related crime.

Three of the new prosecutors will focus on violent crime, with one new prosecutor each for opioids and immigration-related crime.

The news of the additional attorneys was part of a larger announcement by the Department of Justice on the 500th day of Donald Trump’s presidency.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced countrywide they are allocating 311 new Assistant United States Attorneys to assist in priority areas. Those allocations are as follows: 190 violent crime prosecutors, 86 civil enforcement prosecutors and 35 additional immigration prosecutors.

According to a Department of Justice news release, many of the civil enforcement attorneys will support the newly created Prescription Interdiction & Litigation Task Force which targets the opioid crisis at every level of the distribution system.

Sessions said it is the largest increase in decades.

“These additional prosecutors will allow us to build on the work being done with our police and federal partners to target criminals who use violence and firearms to prey on our neighbors,” Northern District of Ohio U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said. “This will also allow us to continue to find creative solutions to the opioid epidemic, prosecute crimes associated with illegal immigration and to make Northern Ohio a safer place to live and work.”