Roger Handberg, former U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, at the Intercept Task Force news conference in April. | Noah Hertz, Jacksonville Today.
Published on February 18, 2025 at 9:27 pm
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Roger Handberg, the top federal prosecutor for the Middle District of Florida, is no longer the U.S. attorney for the region that includes Jacksonville.
Handberg and his office prosecuted a number of public corruption cases involving law enforcement officers, military service members, teachers, postal employees and other public officials during his more than three years in the job.
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That included prosecuting former JEA CEO Aaron Zahn, who was sentenced in July of 2024 to four years in prison for wire fraud and conspiracy in the abandoned sale of the city-owned utility and embezzlement of about $40 million.
Handberg also worked on the Justice Department’s $9 million settlement with Ameris Bank in 2023 over allegations of redlining in Jacksonville, the first of its kind in Florida.
Tuesday’s announcement did not indicate if Handberg was fired or resigned. He was appointed by President Joe Biden.
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In a farewell news release, Handberg said he had made it a priority to engage with the community, to hear from the people who his office served to learn about their priorities, and let them know about the great work being done by law enforcement.
“As someone who was born and raised in this District, I can think of no higher honor than getting the chance, first, to serve as a federal prosecutor in this office and, then, as the United States Attorney,” he said. “… It has been a privilege to have served as a federal prosecutor in my hometown and to have worked side-by-side with my law enforcement partners for the past 22 years.”
A career federal prosecutor, he joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2002, serving in various senior positions and specializing in public corruption and white-collar crime cases. He successfully prosecuted more than $500 million in fraud cases.
The news release on his departure said that under his leadership, the U.S. Attorney’s Office increased its number of criminal cases by more than 60% over the past three fiscal years. That includes an 87% increase in the Jacksonville office, with an overall 77% increase in prosecution of violent crime and a 70% jump in child exploitation cases in the Middle District.
Handberg also increased the number of prosecutors in the office focused on violent crime and firearms cases, federally charging more than 750 defendants with firearms violations in his three years, the news release said.
That includes two people charged with an October 2023 drive-by shooting on Interstate 95 as part of a large-scale drug trafficking and firearms trafficking investigation. One of the most recent was the prosecution of former Nassau County Sgt. Darrell Hickcox and former state trooper Joshua Earrey, who both pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute narcotics, fraud and tax evasion. Hickcox was just sentenced to 17 years in prison, while Earrey has yet to be sentenced.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara C. Sweeney will serve as the acting U.S. attorney for the district that covers 35 of Florida’s 67 counties, from Jacksonville through Central Florida to Sarasota.
