Steven M. Dettelbach was nominated by President Obama on July 10, 2009 and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 15, 2009 as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. He comes to his position as chief federal law enforcement officer for the northern forty counties of Ohio with a wealth of varied experience.
Mr. Dettelbach previously served for over 12 years as a career federal prosecutor. During those years, he worked at the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section; U.S. Attorneys Offices in Maryland and Washington, D.C.; and from 2003 to 2006 in the Northern District of Ohio, as a member of the Organized Crime and Corruption Strike Force.
Among the high-profile cases he prosecuted were those against Nate Gray and former East Cleveland Mayor Emmanuel Onunwor, who were both convicted of taking part in a pay-to-play scheme involving bribes in Cleveland, East Cleveland, Houston and New Orleans. He also won convictions in what was, at the time, the largest human trafficking case ever brought in the United States, in which approximately 70 Thai women were held against their will and forced to work in El Monte, California.
Mr. Dettelbach also was detailed to serve as Counsel for the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary from 2001 to 2003. Most recently, Mr. Dettelbach was a partner at the law firm of Baker & Hostetler, LLP.
Mr. Dettelbach graduated from Dartmouth College in 1988 and from Harvard Law School in 1991.