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Criminal Division

The Criminal Division, which is sub-divided into Anti-Terrorism, Child Pornography, Firearms-Violent Crime, Narcotics-Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), Crimes on Indian Land, and General Crimes sections, is staffed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys who prosecute, in federal courts, violations of federal criminal laws occurring in the Northern District of Oklahoma. The majority of these offenses are investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Postal Inspection Service, and agents from the Offices of Inspectors General of several other federal departments and agencies. Also, state and local law enforcement officers are members of illegal drug, violent crime, and firearms violations task forces which also present cases to our office for prosecution. The Criminal Division Assistant U.S. Attorneys handle all phases of the criminal cases presented to them by these investigators. This includes the important initial decision of whether or not to prosecute. Once that decision is made, the Assistant U.S. Attorney presents charges to a Grand Jury, handles the initial bond hearing, and presents the government's case at trial and sentencing. They also write briefs and argue appeals of convictions to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Criminal Division Links
Anti-Terrorism | Child Pornography | Project Safe Neighborhoods-Violent Gun Crime | Narcotics | Indian Jurisdiction | White Collar Crime

Anti-Terrorism

The Department of Justice is committed to preventing, disrupting, and defeating terrorist attacks before they occur, developing and implementing the full range of resources available to investigate terrorist incidents, bringing their perpetrators to justice, and vigorously prosecuting those who have committed or intend to commit terrorist acts against the United States. The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma has attorneys dedicated to national security and counter terrorism efforts. In January 2002, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma established an Anti-Terrorism Task Force consisting of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies who committed to these terrorism prevention and disruption efforts. That task force has evolved to include a large group of key individuals and organizations whose interests in defeating terrorism and protecting the District's critical infrastructure coincide and is now known as the Northern District of Oklahoma Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council (ATAC). Through these essential strategic partnerships, the ATAC coordinates anti-terrorism initiatives and promotes information sharing on potential terrorist activities among its members. The ATAC's primary goals are to heighten awareness, disseminate information, and ultimately prevent terrorist-related activities in the Northern District of Oklahoma. The ATAC provides dynamic counter-terrorism training to state and local law enforcement officers in the District, striving to keep law enforcement officers acutely aware of methods to prevent terrorism utilizing criminal justice resources. The ATAC seeks to quickly disseminate terrorism-related information to law enforcement officials and other groups on a "need to know" basis for the purpose of preventing potential or actual terrorist operations. Prevention is achieved through heightened awareness, information sharing, targeted training, identification of potential terrorist threats, and by limiting vulnerabilities in the District. The operational and investigative arm of the ATAC is the FBI'S Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). 

Project Safe Childhood 

The dissemination of child pornography over the Internet is of profound concern to the United States Attorney's Office, the Department of Justice, and our communities at large. The Internet has created a virtual "shopping mall" cloaked in anonymity. Pedophiles can duplicate, trade, share, and barter at will with considerably less risk of detection. The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma has joined forces with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and other federal agencies, as well as state investigators, local police departments, and state prosecutors, to combat the rapidly escalating market for dissemination of child pornography, also known as child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

National PSC Web Site

Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN)

The Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative has been a priority Department of Justice program since 2001. Project Safe Neighborhoods is a nationwide commitment to reduce gun crime in America by networking existing local programs that target gun crime and providing those programs with additional tools necessary to be successful. A major goal of PSN is to incorporate research and data analysis, and lessons learned from other violent crime reduction initiatives, to inform its decision-making on the most effective violence reduction strategies. This funding is being used to hire new federal and state prosecutors, support investigators, provide training, deter juvenile gun crime, and develop and promote community outreach efforts, as well as to support other gun violence reduction strategies. A formal relationship has been established with local law enforcement agencies and county district attorney's offices. Every elected prosecutor and local law enforcement agency in the Northern District of Oklahoma has been invited to participate in this initiative, and cases have been referred to the U.S. Attorney's Office from most counties in the District. 

On May 26, 2021, the Department of Justice launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN so that it is built on newly articulated core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results of our efforts.

National PSN Web Site 

Narcotics- Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces

Established in 1982, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) is the centerpiece of the U.S. Attorney General’s strategy to combat transnational-organized-crime and to reduce the availability of illicit narcotics in the nation by using a prosecutor-led, multi-agency approach to enforcement. OCDETF implements a nationwide strategy combining priority targeting, coordination, intelligence sharing, and directed resourcing to have the greatest impact on disrupting and dismantling command and control elements of criminal organizations. The U.S. Attorney's Office has team of prosecutors who work hand-in-hand with law enforcement agencies to prosecute these cases in the Northern District of Oklahoma. OCDETF leverages the resources and expertise of its partners in concentrated, coordinated, long-term enterprise investigations of transnational organized crime, money laundering, and major drug trafficking networks.

Indian Country Jurisdiction

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma recognizes the importance of effective communication between various components of the Justice Department and tribal nations and regards the United States’ federal trust responsibility to the Tribes as a significant priority. The district employs 29 Assistant U.S. Attorneys dedicated to the prosecution of federal crimes in Indian Country. In addition, the district has commissioned tribal prosecutors as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys (SAUSAs) who assist in federal prosecutions. These Assistant U.S. Attorneys prosecute numerous cases which derive from federal jurisdiction over crimes occurring on Indian land ranging from child abuse to robbery. 

White Collar Crime

The cases assigned to this section are generally frauds and embezzlements which occur in a business and commercial context - advance fee schemes, large embezzlements, investor frauds, telemarketing frauds, false loan applications, check-kites, computer-related crimes, tax offenses, and so on. The attorneys in this group also handle environmental crimes and federal program frauds, such as HUD fraud, Medicare/Medicaid fraud, and defense contractor fraud. Although the cases tend to be large in terms of the amount of money lost or the numbers of victims, smaller cases, such as postal thefts and bank teller embezzlements, are also prosecuted by the White Collar Crime section.

Health Care Fraud: The Department of Justice is increasingly focused upon the problem of fraud in the health care industry. Concern at the national level is reflected in the growing number of such cases which have been prosecuted in the Northern District of Oklahoma in recent years. Health care fraud appears in many segments of the industry, and the United States Attorney's Office in Tulsa has been responsible for prosecutions relating to the practice of medicine, dentistry, psychology, and chiropractic in addition to suppliers of medical equipment and auxiliary services and prescription abuses. In addition, the White Collar Crime section has coordinated with the Affirmative Civil Enforcement (ACE) section in pursuing civil remedies against health care providers whose activities did not rise to the level of provable criminal fraud.

Corporate Fraud: Since July 2001, the Corporate Fraud Task Force within the Department of Justice endeavored to combat corporate fraud and restore investor confidence in the marketplace. The investigation and prosecution of significant corporate fraud matters is a high priority of this United States Attorney's Office. It is our goal to make certain that the punishment of corporate wrongdoers is as swift as possible and virtually certain. We also work to insure that the information relied on by our nation's financial markets is open and accurate.

Updated February 13, 2023