CLICK BELOW TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH MARK TOTTEN
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten today announced his departure effective Monday, January 20, 2025.
President Biden nominated Totten on November 12, 2021, and the U.S. Senate confirmed him on April 27, 2022.
He took the oath of office and began service on May 5, 2022.
“I’m incredibly proud of the work my team and I have done to protect the public, especially our more vulnerable citizens like children and seniors,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten. “Over the past few years, we’ve secured major wins in our fight against gun violence, child exploitation, public corruption, hate crimes, consumer fraud, drug poisonings, and other threats. I’m so grateful to have served alongside the amazing team in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan and the privilege I’ve been given to advance our mission.”
WATCH: Message from U.S. Attorney Mark Totten
Over the past few years, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan has furthered its mission to uphold the rule of law, keep the District safe, and protect civil rights in several important ways:
- Gun violence. In 2021 the nation and Michigan had one of highest violent crime rates in three decades and gun violence became the #1 cause of death among children. To help address this spike, the Office focused on two primary drivers of violence: firearms traffickers and shooters. Cases included the prosecution of Darnell Bishop and Dontrell Nance (who kidnapped a Dunham Sports manager in Benton Harbor and stole 123 guns); the prosecution of Craig Hunnicutt, Jr. (a Grand Rapids man who opened fire and shot multiple victims in the parking lot of a convenience store); and the prosecution of Avis Coward (a Lansing man who illegally possessed a gun that a two-year-old child used to accidentally kill himself). In addition, the Office ran the Safe Summer programs in 2023 and 2024, pledging to prosecute all cases that involved a crime gun to address the rise of gun violence during the warmer months.
- Violence against women. The Office also prioritized the prosecution of firearms offenders who committed violence against women. Cases included the prosecution of Mitchell Pierce (Muskegon man who stalked his ex-wife and threatened to torture and kill her); and Alexander Dominic (Grand Rapids man who beat and choked multiple domestic partners).
- Crimes against children. Access to cell phones and the internet has rendered children more vulnerable than ever, including to criminal networks around the world. The FBI’s investigation and the Office’s successful prosecution of Samuel and Samson Ogoshi, who ran a sextortion scheme from Nigeria that resulted in the death of 17-year-old Jordan DeMay of Marquette, Mich., created a new benchmark for how law enforcement responds to this ever-growing threat. Other cases protecting children included the prosecution of Richard Densmore (member of violent 764 terror network who manipulated children to create sexual images and commit self-harm); Arisknight Winfree (Lansing-based sexual predator who preyed on au pairs, including gagging and raping at least one victim); and Rashad Trice (Lansing man who kidnapped and killed 2-year-old Wynter Cole-Smith, leaving her body in a Detroit alley).
- Public corruption. The Office’s mission to uphold the rule of law includes rooting out public corruption. The prosecution of Rick Johnson, former Speaker of the Michigan House, for brazenly soliciting and accepting bribes as Chair of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Licensing Board, was one of the largest public corruption cases in state government in a generation.
- Civil rights. In 2023 the Office announced the creation of a Civil Rights Team, hired an additional Assistant U.S. Attorney dedicated to civil rights cases, and launched the United Against Hate program to educate the public about federal hate crimes. The Office backed-up this commitment with two successful hate crimes prosecutions: Nathan Weeden (member of a white supremacist group convicted at trial for hate crimes targeting Black and Jewish people and defacing a Michigan synagogue with Neo-Nazi symbols); and Seann Pietila (Pickford, Mich. resident who plotted a mass-shooting attack on a synagogue in East Lansing). In addition, the office also prosecuted Joshua Brereton (committed arson against the Planned Parenthood clinic in Kalamazoo) and secured a civil settlement with Darrell Jones (Muskegon landlord who the Office alleged repeatedly sexually harassed his female tenants).
- Consumer fraud. These criminals prey on senior citizens and their crimes can lead to financial ruin for their victims. The Office successfully prosecuted several consumer fraud cases including one against Irfan Gill (international telemarketing scheme that defrauded over 1,500 seniors with cable and satellite television).
- Environmental crime. In addition to direct crimes against people, the Office also prosecuted environmental crimes, protecting air, water, and public lands. In the Diesel Freak case, the office prosecuted and convicted multiple companies and individuals involved in a scheme to disable emission-control systems on semi-trucks. These schemes can drastically increase emissions of harmful air pollutants associated with serious health risks. This major Clean Air Act case represented one of the largest aftermarket deletion schemes ever prosecuted in the United States.
- Illegal drugs. Lastly, the Office worked to dismantle the regional-level pipelines that bring drugs into Michigan communities. This work was especially important over the past few years as the number of drug-related deaths reached the highest number ever recorded both in the United States and here in Michigan, driven primarily by the spread of fentanyl. An example of this effort is the prosecution of James Smith, a supplier responsible for the distribution of fentanyl in Kalamazoo that resulted in the death of at least 6 people during a 24-hour period in April 2023.
In addition to these and other cases, U.S. Attorney Totten prioritized efforts to strengthen relationships with law enforcement, community partners, and the eleven federally recognized Tribes in the District. During his term, Totten visited all 49 counties in the Western District of Michigan, meeting with county sheriffs, county prosecutors, and other community partners. In 2023, for example, Totten participated in 311 meetings and other events as part of his community outreach efforts.
U.S. Attorney Totten was born and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he lives today. He previously served as Chief Legal Counsel in the Executive Office of the Governor for the State of Michigan from 2019-2022. Prior to entering government service, Totten was a law professor at Michigan State University from 2008-2018, where he taught criminal law and criminal procedure. From 2011-2013 he served part-time as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney handling criminal appeals in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan. He was a judicial law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and began his career as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Appellate Staff, in Washington, D.C. Totten received his B.A. from Cedarville College and his law degree and a Ph.D. in ethics from Yale University.
The U.S. Attorney is the chief federal law enforcement officer in the Western District of Michigan. The District covers 49 counties, including the western half of Michigan’s lower peninsula and the whole of the upper peninsula. The main office is in Grand Rapids, but the District also has a staffed office in Marquette and unstaffed offices in Lansing and Kalamazoo. As U.S. Attorney, Totten managed a team of approximately 42 attorneys and 48 support staff. At the national level, Totten served as a member on several U.S. Department of Justice bodies: the Terrorism & National Security Subcommittee; the Civil Rights Subcommittee; and the Environmental Justice Subcommittee.
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