PITTSBURGH - Scott W. Brady, United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, today named the Office’s new executive leadership team and announced a restructuring of the Office’s Criminal Division that will allow the office to best effectuate the Administration’s priorities.
"This is an outstanding leadership team," stated United States Attorney Brady. "These men and women are the finest our District has to offer - incredibly accomplished attorneys, highly respected among their peers and by the bench, and possessing the highest standards of character and integrity. They will serve the people of western Pennsylvania with great honor and distinction."
Mr. Brady named Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman as his First Assistant U.S. Attorney. Mr. Kaufman has served as the Chief of the Criminal Division since 2010. In his 25 years as a federal prosecutor, Mr. Kaufman has handled a wide variety of violent crime, narcotics, child exploitation and white collar cases. Notable cases include the successful eight-week trial of the Pittsburgh La Cosa Nostra organized crime family on RICO charges, the prosecution of the distributors of China White, a deadly synthetic form of heroin which caused the overdose deaths of 17 individuals in 1988, the prosecution of Michael Carlow, owner of Pittsburgh Brewing and Clark Candy, for perpetuating a $31 million dollar check kiting scheme against PNC Bank, and more recently obtaining the conviction of and an 11-year prison sentence for Dr. Oliver Herndon, a physician who was the most prolific illegal distributor of oxycodone in the Pittsburgh area prior to his arrest. Mr. Kaufman is a graduate of Allegheny College and Harvard Law School.
Mr. Brady named former Assistant U.S. Attorney Tina O. Miller as Chief of the Criminal Division. She returns to the office today from Farrell & Reisinger, LLC, where she was a trial lawyer whose practice focused on criminal defense, corporate internal investigations, mediation and representing victims of crime in both criminal and civil cases. Ms. Miller has jury trial experience as both a federal prosecutor and defense counsel in a wide variety of cases, including fraud, arson, public corruption, arms trafficking, carjacking, narcotics trafficking and sex offenses. In her prior stint as a federal prosecutor, Ms. Miller successfully prosecuted Jelani Solomon, a major drug trafficker who also ordered the murder of a family member of someone he suspected of cooperating, and Scott Tyree, a Virginia man who met a 13-year-old Pittsburgh girl on the internet, drove her to his home in Virginia, and held her captive for three days until the FBI rescued her. Ms. Miller is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University School of Law.
Jennifer Andrade, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Civil Division since January 2008, has been named Chief of the Civil Division. Prior to joining the office, Ms. Andrade served as a federal law clerk to the Hon. Ila Jeanne Sensenich for two years, and as a litigation associate in private practice for three years. Ms. Andrade’s experience also includes serving in her second three-year term as a Pennsylvania District IV Senior Hearing Committee member, where her responsibilities include conducting hearings and making recommendations to the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board on petitions for attorney discipline brought by the Pennsylvania Office of Disciplinary Counsel. Ms. Andrade has served as an instructor at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina, and has also served in several leadership capacities for the Allegheny County Bar Association and Foundation, most recently as the Allegheny County Bar Foundation Vice President. Ms. Andrade is a graduate of Boston University and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Ross Haywood will continue to serve as Appellate Division Chief. Ms. Haywood has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Appellate Division since 2005. In this capacity, Ms. Haywood has successfully defended over 100 criminal and civil appeals, including a heath care fraud conviction of the owner and operator of a nursing home specializing in the care of Alzheimer’s patients and the 45-year sentence of a medical student convicted of child pornography offenses. Ms. Haywood will remain responsible for coordinating and reviewing all of the appellate filings emanating from the Western District of Pennsylvania. She has previous service as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Civil Division dating from 1997. Ms. Haywood is currently Vice-Chair of the Third Circuit Lawyers Advisory Committee, which works with the Court of Appeals to improve the administration of justice. Ms. Haywood is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Michigan Law School.
Barbara Bacvinskas, a Department of Justice employee since 1983, will continue to serve as the Administrative Officer for the District.
In addition to naming his leadership team, Mr. Brady announced a reorganized Criminal Division. The Criminal Division will have four Sections: 1.) Cyber/National Security, 2.) Economic Crimes, 3.) Major Crimes, and 4.) Narcotics. The new Criminal Division sections will be overseen as follows: Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles A. "Tod" Eberle will supervise the Cyber/National Security Section; Nelson P. Cohen, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Office and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska, will supervise the Economic Crimes Section; Assistant U.S. Attorney Shaun E. Sweeney will supervise the Major Crimes Section; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti will supervise the Narcotics Section. Additionally, former Acting U.S. Attorney Soo C. Song will serve as the Head of National Security.
"These structural and leadership changes will allow us to maximize efforts to attack the deadly opioid crisis, reduce violent drug and gun crime, root out public corruption, prosecute cyber criminals, and prevent incidents of terrorism, all with a determination to protect the citizens of western Pennsylvania," Mr. Brady stated.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania prosecutes civil and criminal matters on behalf of the United States of America and its agencies and defends claims against the United States in the 25 counties that make up the western part of the Commonwealth. The office currently employs 59 Assistant U.S. Attorneys across the Criminal, Civil and Appellate Divisions, and 57 support staff, in offices in Pittsburgh, Erie and Johnstown.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
