U.S. Attorney’s Office to open branch in Richland
By Terry Murry on Monday, October 17th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
RICHLAND, Wash. – Vanessa R. Waldref, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, Friday announced that a fully staffed branch of the United States Attorney’s Office will be opening in the Richland Courthouse and Federal Building, 825 Jadwin Avenue.
“The number of cases prosecuted by the Richland Division of my office has risen significantly over the last two decades,” Waldref said. “As the number of cases continued to grow, it became clear that we need dedicated assistant United States attorneys, who live and work in the Tri-Cities area, to support our federal, state, and local partners and ensure that criminal defendants who commit federal crimes are prosecuted to the fullest extent.”
Since 2019, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has prosecuted an average of approximately 70 cases each year arising in the Richland Division. While the U.S. Attorney’s Office has continued to prosecute a large volume of cases in Richland, the federal prosecutors handling these cases have been traveling from Spokane and Yakima to appear for hearings in Richland’s federal courthouse.
Waldref leads an office of 29 assistant United States attorneys: 23 in Spokane and six in Yakima. In the near future, that number is anticipated to grow to have two fulltime assistant United States attorneys and one legal assistant.
Photo via Kennewick Police Department: (Foreground left to right) U.S. District Court Judge Edward F. Shea, U.S. Attorney Vanessa R. Waldref, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr.
