WHEELING - U.S. Attorney Sharon Potter is ending a three-year stint as the Northern District of West Virginia's top law enforcement officer.
Potter - who will be honored at a farewell gathering from 1:30-3 p.m. Sept. 25 in the first-floor atrium of the Federal Building on Chapline Street in Wheeling - expressed gratitude for a chance to serve as U.S. attorney for the Northern District.
"When the opportunity to serve arose in 2006, I was honored to take on that role and hope that my tenure has been marked by a sense of fair, but firm, prosecutions," she said. "We have focused on aggressively prosecuting cases involving illegal drugs, firearms, child pornography and tax fraud, and the caseload for this district has steadily increased over the past several years."
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Sharon Potter
Potter said initiatives like Operation Pill Broker, aimed at illegal prescription pill trafficking, and Project Safe Childhood, directed at child pornography traffickers and producers, have been very successful.
"Our office has also presented Internet safety and gang violence prevention programs to hundreds of school students across the Northern District, and I hope that those outreach programs will continue for years to come," she said "It has been a privilege to work with the staff at the U.S. Attorney's Office serving the citizens of the Northern District of West Virginia."
Potter said she is not sure who will replace as the new U.S. attorney.
"When a presidentially appointed U.S. attorney resigns, the procedure generally followed is that the first assistant U.S. attorney will serve as an 'acting U.S. attorney' until the Senate confirms another candidate," she said. "I have no idea when that will take place, only the senators' offices might have some idea."
After leaving the job, Potter will begin working with the law firm of Spilman, Thomas & Battle PLLC in October.
Potter was sworn in on Oct. 6, 2006, having been appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Prior to her appointment, Potter had served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District since September 1992. She handled a variety of criminal prosecutions, ranging from fraud and tax evasion to drug trafficking and cybercrime throughout the district.
Potter has also focused on criminal and civil forfeiture cases, generating resources through the sharing of assets with state and local law enforcement agencies as well as restitution for victims of fraud.
She also has been involved in initiatives with federal agencies designed to foster networking and sharing of knowledge and resources between academia, industry and law enforcement to better identify and prosecute computer crimes and recently served as a member of the National Institute of Justice Technical Working Group for Digital Evidence.
In 1997, Potter received the U.S. Department of Justice Director's Award for Superior Performance following her prosecution of a nationwide securities fraud/money laundering case that involved about 15,000 victims and netted more than $2.3 million in forfeitures.
Most recently, she worked closely with the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation Division investigating and prosecuting tax-related cases involving income and employment tax evasion, abusive trust shelters and financial fraud cases.
She also worked with the Three Rivers Drug Task Force in Fairmont, W.Va., prosecuting federal drug trafficking crimes.