U.S. Attorney’s Office seeks two criminal prosecutors for Asheville, Charlotte

The federal courthouse on Otis Street is looking for more courtroom muscle just as Asheville’s public-safety caseload stays under strain. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina is seeking two criminal Assistant U.S. Attorneys, one for Asheville and one for Charlotte, to handle the range of federal cases that have increasingly shaped law enforcement in Buncombe County.

The posting covers a wide swath of crimes: drug violations, illegal immigration, violent crimes, fraud, public corruption, child exploitation, human trafficking, firearms violations, terrorism and asset forfeiture. That menu reflects the work of an office that serves 32 counties across western North Carolina, a district that stretches over 13,563.9 square miles and reaches more than three million people, including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

For Asheville, the hire lands in a city where federal and local prosecutors have both been under pressure from violent crime and guns. Asheville police said in 2024 that the city recorded 13 homicides, the most ever in a single year, and most of those killings were firearm-related. In recent months, federal prosecutors in the district have announced Asheville-area indictments tied to fentanyl and illegal firearms activity, while also meeting with faith leaders and local law enforcement to discuss youth violence prevention and neighborhood safety.

The job search also comes with a local institutional backdrop that matters in Buncombe County. State felony and misdemeanor prosecutions run through Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams, who oversees Prosecutorial District 40, which covers the entire county. Federal prosecutors, by contrast, take on the crimes that cross county lines, involve federal statutes or require the resources of the U.S. Department of Justice, leaving Asheville with two overlapping justice systems that often meet on the same streets.

The Western District office says it has nearly 100 federal prosecutors and professional staff. Its Asheville office is in the U.S. Courthouse at 100 Otis Street, Room 309, while the Charlotte office is at 227 W. Trade Street, Suite 1650. The new openings suggest the office is still trying to keep pace with a region where drug trafficking, gun violence and related federal cases continue to test court capacity and public-safety priorities.