PHOTO | Sen. Manchin
WVOW News
CHARLESTON US Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia Will Thompson was formally sworn in Thursday, October 13.
Thompson previously served as Circuit Judge in Boone County before he was nominated by President Biden to US Attorney in August 2021. He was confirmed by the US Senate October fifth and was sworn-in October thirteenth last year in a private ceremony.
During the investiture ceremony, Thompson said his focus is to make communities safe and hold people accountable for their actions. His priorities as a lead federal law enforcement officer for the southern part of the Mountain State include drugs, white collar crime and domestic terrorism.
“A priority of this office is to go after the drugs that are actually killing our communities, such as fentanyl, other opiates and meth,” he said. “This is where a lot of the violence in our communities is actually coming from.”
Thompson commands a staff of more than thirty lawyers and forty other staff in offices located in Charleston, Beckley and Huntington.
US Senators Joe Manchin and Shelly Moore Capito both commended Thompson’s record.
Capito said, “He has shown great leadership and professionalism throughout his career, and I am confident in his ability to uphold the rule of law and protect our communities here at home.”
“Will’s work speaks for itself, and I’m pleased to be able to celebrate my friend today at his investiture ceremony,” Manchin said.
US Attorneys prosecute federal crimes and defend the United States in civil matters and national debt collections.