Assistant U.S. Attorney Trent Shores was sworn in Thursday as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
Chief U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell administered the oath of office to Shores.
The swearing in was viewed by a combination of office co-workers and Tulsa Tech students who just happened to be taking a tour at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
A formal swearing-in ceremony will be held at a later date.
“This is a great day,” Frizzell said, prior to administering the oath. “This is a day we have waited for quite a long time.”
Afterwards, Shores thanked Frizzell and others present.
“This is so humbling of an opportunity,” Shores told those gathered.
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Shores also thanked his wife, Caitlin, for her support.
“It is certainly not easy being married to a federal prosecutor,” Shores said.
After the ceremony, Shores talked about his priorities to the Tulsa World.
“Our local priorities will match well with Attorney General (Jeff) Sessions’ national priorities,” Shores said. “We will aggressively prosecute violent crimes, child exploitation crimes and human trafficking.
“We will also work with our federal, state, tribal and local partners to address the opioid epidemic in the Northern District of Oklahoma.”
Shores told the World that his office will focus on law and order.
“We will work side-by-side with community leaders and justice officials to combat those who would exploit our community for their criminal benefit,” Shores said.
President Donald Trump nominated Shores, 39, for the position in June. The U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination Sept. 14.
Shores replaces Danny Williams, who resigned following November’s election.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Loretta Radford has served as acting U.S. attorney for the district during the interim.
Shores is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and a former first assistant state attorney general.
Shores started at the U.S. Department of Justice in 2003 as deputy director of the Office of Tribal Justice.
He started in the U.S. Attorney’s Office based in Tulsa in January 2007 under then-U.S. Attorney David O’Meilia.
While an assistant U.S. attorney, Shores specialized in human trafficking and child exploitation, drug-trafficking organizations, public corruption and white-collar crime, and as a national security cyber specialist.
He is also an authority on tribal justice issues.
Addressing his colleagues, Shores said, “I’m going to roll up my sleeves and get to work with you. It’s going to be great.”