Criminal Division

The Criminal Division of Montana’s United States Attorney’s office is made up of Assistant United States Attorneys in the Billings, Great Falls, Helena, and Missoula offices. These federal prosecutors are responsible for enforcing the entire array of federal crimes, including anti-terrorism investigations, white collar fraud, drug trafficking, child pornography, environmental crime, firearms violations and violent crime in Indian Country. The criminal division is supervised by a Criminal Chief AUSA and four Deputy Criminal Chief AUSAs. To promote the development of expertise and collaboration, the division is organized into four Units, the Indian Country Unit, the National Priorities Unit, the Organized Crime/Drug Unit and the Economic Crime Unit. Each Unit is supervised by a deputy criminal chief who provides guidance and regularly organizes Unit meetings to discuss issues relevant to the Unit’s casework.

National Priorities Unit

The National Priorities Unit is comprised of Assistant U.S. Attorneys assigned to the Project Safe Childhood and Project Safe Neighborhoods initiatives.

Operation Take Back America is a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to address the invasion of illegal immigrants, eliminate the cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from violent crime and drug trafficking

Project Safe Childhood is a Department of Justice initiative that aims to combat technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. PSC AUSAs prosecute individuals who commit offenses involving child pornography, online enticement, child sex tourism, and commercial sexual exploitation. The PSC AUSAs also participate in community outreach projects, educating the general public about the dangers sexual predators pose on the Internet and other cyber-issues facing our children today.

Project Safe Neighborhoods is a Department of Justice initiative designed to reduce firearm crimes by removing dangerous offenders from the community. The PSN attorneys prosecute a variety of federal drug, armed robbery and firearms violations.

Organized Crime/Drug Unit

The Organized Crime/Drug Unit handles cases ranging from anti-terrorism investigations and breaches of national security to prosecutions of large scale drug trafficking organizations.  Overall the unit seeks to investigate and prosecute long-term and complex cases by using various investigative tools including search warrants, extensive grand jury presentations, and electronic surveillance.

Economic Crime Unit

The Economic Crimes Unit (ECU) is responsible for prosecuting a wide variety of economic and government program fraud cases throughout the state of Montana. Private sector crimes prosecuted by the ECU include wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, identity theft, credit card fraud, Ponzi schemes, corporate fraud and health care fraud. The ECU also prosecutes government program fraud that includes theft and embezzlement from various federal agencies and programs.

The primary mission of the ECU is to protect Montana investors, consumers, businesses and financial institutions and tax payers from fraud. To accomplish this goal, the ECU aggressively prosecutes major frauds throughout the state that have a federal interest. The ECU works closely with the U.S. Secret Service, FBI, IRS and other agency partners to achieve these goals, as well as the Financial Litigation Unit in order to identify assets and maximize potential restitution to victims of fraud.

Indian Country Unit

The Indian Country Unit is responsible for fulfilling one of the Department’s top priorities – the improvement of public safety in Indian Country. To that end, the unit focuses on timely, effective prosecutions and liaison work that includes regular meetings with the tribal prosecutor and law enforcement, and regular attendance at multi-disciplinary team meetings investigating crimes again children and sexual assaults. In addition, a tribal liaison engages with tribal government on matters of local and national concerns and initiatives.