Attorney General Jeff Sessions Recognizes Department Employees And Others For Their Service At 66th Annual Attorney General Awards

Tampa, FL – Attorney General Jeff Sessions recognized 244 department employees for their distinguished public service yesterday at the 66^th Annual Attorney General’s Awards Ceremony. Thirty-six other individuals outside of the department were also honored for their work. This annual ceremony recognizes employees and other individuals who have demonstrated exceptional achievements, leadership, and service to the Department of Justice and the American people.  This year’s award includes an award for exceptional heroism to U.S. Marshal Senior Inspector Basilio S. Perez, Jr., for his courageous actions to protect and aid victims of the October 1, 2017, mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada.                                   

“Service in the Department of Justice is more than a normal job; it is a calling to the highest standards of professionalism,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “That is true for all of the 115,000 Department of Justice employees.  But it is especially true for these award winners. And so I want to thank them and their families for their exemplary service to this Department and to the American people. They have made this Department proud.”

“I am really proud of Anita Cream for her outstanding contributions to our Office and the Department,” said U.S. Attorney Chapa Lopez.

This year’s program honors individuals across the department and our federal, state, local, and tribal partners for their self-less efforts, protecting our national security and our civil rights, addressing rising violent crime in our communities, going after gangs and those trafficking in dangerous narcotics and human beings.  The awards also honor the work of civil and environmental litigation, which enforces the rule of law and upholds our Constitution. They also recognize employees whose ideas and efforts save taxpayer dollars and help our government operate more effectively and efficiently, among other contributions to public safety and good governance.

In the Middle District of Florida, Asset Forfeiture Chief Anita Cream was recognized for the oral and written guidance she provided in response to the Supreme Court’s opinion in Honeycutt v. United States of America. Her involvement substantially helped prosecutors understand how to pursue criminal forfeiture in light of the Court’s ruling in the case, which reversed decades of criminal forfeiture practice.