United States Attorney’s Office to Deploy Resources to Underserved Areas in the Shenandoah Valley, Winchester, and Route 29 Corridor

Roanoke, VIRGINIA – United States Attorney Thomas T. Cullen announced today a plan that will provide greater prosecutorial resources to underserved areas of the Western District of Virginia and allow his office to more efficiently prosecute federal crimes throughout the Charlottesville and Harrisonburg Divisions.

The WDVA Consolidation and Winchester Expansion Plan will take unprecedented steps to place Assistant United States Attorneys directly into the communities that have the greatest law enforcement needs, while also consolidating resources to ensure efficient management and coordinated strategy.

The United States Attorney announced the first step of the plan today, which entails merging staff from the Harrisonburg and Charlottesville offices into one combined office in Charlottesville. That office will be supervised by Managing Assistant United States Attorney Ronald M. Huber.  Importantly, prosecutors from the combined office will continue to work out of office space in the Harrisonburg federal courthouse as needed and will continue to prosecute Harrisonburg Division criminal cases.  In addition, a federal grand jury will continue to be convened at the Harrisonburg federal courthouse, and criminal cases will be tried there.

U.S. Attorney Cullen also announced that two Assistant United States Attorneys will be dedicated to spending one day per week in new office space in Winchester, where they can focus on meeting with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in the area.

“By combining our prosecutors in Harrisonburg and Charlottesville, we can more efficiently and effectively deploy our limited resources to parts of these court divisions that, historically, have been underserved by our office,” U.S. Attorney Cullen stated.  “Importantly, the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who have traditionally worked out of our Harrisonburg office will continue to prioritize cases originating in that community and work closely with our state and local law-enforcement partners there.  I do not anticipate a decline in the number of criminal cases filed in that court.” 

Cullen added, “Our prosecutors will also, for the first time, work out of new office space in Winchester, an area that has long been the epicenter of the opioid epidemic and organized drug trafficking.  I am confident that, with these structural changes, we are better positioned to service the Harrisonburg and Charlottesville court divisions as a whole, including Waynesboro, Staunton, Augusta County, Nelson County, Winchester, Frederick County, Front Royal, and the Route 29 corridor.”