Federal prosecutors to open their first Tri-Cities office to fight crime and fraud

The federal courthouse in Richland for the first time will soon have a fully staffed branch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office to work with law enforcement to fight crime and fraud, officials announced Friday.

The U.S. courthouse in the Tri-Cities was the only Federal Building in the nation with active judges but without such a federal prosecutor’s office, said U.S. Senior Judge Edward Shea.

Shea, a former Benton Franklin Superior Court judge, has been advocating for a federal attorney’s office for the community since he was appointed a federal judge and assigned to the Tri-Cities nearly 25 years ago.

“In the Tri-Cities and surrounding area the prosecution of cases has been limited and mostly undertaken by state and county offices,” said former U.S. Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr., who was appointed last month to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Having a U.S. Attorney’s Office based in Richland is vital because it expands the federal prosecutorial pressure here and increases the safety of our community,” he said.

Now attorneys from the Eastern Washington office of the U.S. Attorney in Spokane and a branch office in Yakima travel to the Tri-Cities for court hearings at the Richland courthouse in the Federal Building on Jadwin Avenue.

It’s five hours of drive time for a trip to and from Spokane and about three hours of driving round trip from Yakima for about 500 cases a year now in the Richland courthouse.

Establishing a permanent staffed office in Richland will give attorneys more time to focus on their casework and less time spent driving.

Federal office coordination

The new office is estimated to cost about $500,000 to staff and for remodeling and equipment through its first year. But a cost analysis shows it ultimately should save money and increase efficiency, said Vanessa Waldrof, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.

The district office serves 20 central and eastern Washington counties with a population of about 1.5 million people, with its largest population centers in Spokane, Yakima and Richland. Yakima has six assistant U.S. attorneys.

Advertising started Friday to recruit two attorneys to staff the permanent Richland office, which will serve Benton, Franklin and Walla Walla counties and their combined population of nearly 400,000.

As the population has grown, so has crime and the need to work closely with local and federal law enforcement in the area, said speakers at a ribbon cutting in front of the Federal Building on Friday.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Health and Human Services and Department of Energy Office of Inspector General already have law enforcement offices in the Tri-Cities with agents and task force officers.

In addition, the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho is working to add to its offices in Spokane and Yakima with a presence in Richland, Mendoza said.

Having both a U.S. Attorney’s Office and public defense attorneys is essential to having a “stronger, fair and more balanced system where all people feel heard and supported,” Mendoza said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office also works side by side with Tri-Cities city and county law enforcement and county prosecutors.

Having a Richland office will allow “a task force officer or a federal agent to walk into an office and have a direct dialogue,” rather than talking by phone or scheduling a virtual meeting, said Kennewick Police Chief Chris Guerrero.

The office will enhance work already done in the Tri-Cities, Waldref said.

Federal Tri-Cities cases

Federal prosecution in the Tri-Cities has focused on community safety priorities, including prosecuting drug trafficking and child pornography cases.

It also prosecuted Cody Easterday for a massive “ghost cattle” scam that defrauded Tyson Foods and another company out of more than a quarter billion dollars.

The area to be served by the new offices also has a growing tribal gaming presence and is home to the Hanford nuclear reservation site, which brings $2.6 billion in federal money into the community annually.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has worked to make sure than money is used for its intended purpose of environmental cleanup.

It has a history of settlements with federally paid Hanford contractors, recovering more than $225 million for alleged time card fraud, substandard materials, overbilling for the vitrification plant, creating small business front companies and COVID loan fraud.

Waldref expects to have the new office staffed with two attorneys in a matter of months and also will continue to depend on Laurel Holland, a special U.S. assistant attorney and Benton County deputy prosecutor, who specializes in crimes against children.

When Waldref became the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Washington in fall 2021, one of her top priorities was to build upon the work being done in the Tri-Cities, she said.

With the planned opening of the new office, she was able to accomplish in her first year what no one else had in 25 years, Shea said.

This story was originally published October 16, 2022 at 5:00 AM.