Ohio US Attorney: Shift Some Attention From Terror

ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Eight years after the 9/11 attacks, the time has come to shift crime-fighting resources to other areas while keeping terrorism as a top priority, a new Ohio federal prosecutor said.

So many federal agents were moved to terror investigations that prosecutions of more traditional crimes suffered, said Carter Stewart, the new U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, including Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and all of southeast Ohio.

"I would like to have more resources go back to our bread-and-butter cases," Stewart told The Associated Press on Friday.

Carter said his prosecution priorities will include financial crime, mortgage fraud, public corruption, environmental crime and the exploitation of children.

Carter said the shift of resources to combatting terrorism was understandable because of the unprecedented nature of the 9/11 attacks.

"Obviously, we don't want to go overboard, we don't want to shift all our resources out of terrorism," Stewart said. "But I think there's probably a balance to be found."