State’s Atty. David E. Akemann has announced more personnel changes as part of the reorganization he promised in his fall election campaign.
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Jose Vela has been appointed an assistant state’s attorney handling environmental affairs. Vela, a former employee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has experience as an environmental investigator.
The following assistant state’s attorneys were appointed to newly formed units:
– John Barsanti was named head of the priority prosecution unit, which will concentrate on the county’s most important cases, particularly in the area of violent crime. Joe Cullen and Joe Rago were named to the unit.
– Kelly Lambert will be in charge of the drug unit. Alice Tracy, Jody Gleason and Heidi Baxter also will work in the unit, which will handle forfeiture of drug-related assets, among other issues.
– The child sex crimes unit will be led by Tom Stanfa, who will work with part-time Assistant State’s Attorneys Kathy Diamond-Karayannis and Anne Stanfa, Tom’s wife.