Staff report

Warren native David M. Toepfer took the oath of office Wednesday to serve as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

Toepfer is now the top-ranking federal law enforcement official for the district representing the United States in all federal and civil litigation. His appointment marks the first time in more than 117 years that a Mahoning Valley lawyer will serve in the role.

Toepfer was sworn in by Chief U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi at the U.S. Courthouse in Akron following his appointment by U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi. Toepfer was appointed pursuant to federal law, which provides that “the Attorney General may appoint a United States Attorney for the district in which the office of the United States Attorney is vacant.”

In July, President Donald J. Trump nominated Toepfer to the position, but it was not official until Bondi made the appointment.

“It is the honor of a lifetime to serve the people of Northern Ohio in this role. Our office will continue working with our federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to protect the public by aggressively enforcing the laws of the United States,” Toepfer said. “I am thankful for the trust President Trump and Attorney General Bondi have placed in me, and for the support of Senators (Bernie) Moreno and (Jon) Husted as the confirmation process proceeds through the Senate.”

Toepfer is responsible for a district covering the 40 northern-most counties in the state of Ohio, which is home to nearly 6 million people. The U.S. Attorney’s Office operates from its main headquarters in Cleveland, with additional branches in Akron, Toledo and Youngstown. Toepfer will lead a staff of nearly 200 attorneys and support personnel.

A career prosecutor of nearly three decades, Toepfer joined the Northern District of Ohio in 2008 as an Assistant United States Attorney based in the Youngstown office. He has served in a variety of leadership roles with the office, and most recently served as branch chief for both Youngstown and Akron. In this role, he supervised branch attorneys and served as a liaison between federal and local law enforcement agencies to review and prepare cases for federal prosecution.

In his 17 years with the office, he has prosecuted a wide range of federal criminal cases such as bank robbery, firearms offenses, fraud, narcotics and export-controlled technology. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he served for nine years as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Trumbull County, conducting jury trials in common pleas court for all felonies, including death penalty cases, murder and violent offenses, and coordinating investigations involving numerous local police agencies. He also served two years as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Portage County, where he conducted felony and misdemeanor trials in juvenile and municipal courts.

Toepfer has dedicated his career to focusing on the prosecution of the most violent offenders, dismantling interstate drug trafficking organizations and enforcing federal immigration laws.

The Warren native also has been the recipient of numerous awards. Most notably, in 2010, he was nationally recognized with the Director’s Award from the Department of Justice for leading the Violence and Gun Reduction Interdiction Program in Youngstown and Warren. The program was a federal, state and local initiative that successfully targeted violent offenders who illegally used and possessed firearms.

Toepfer is a magna cum laude graduate of Youngstown State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree, majoring in accounting. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Akron School of Law.