Joseph Johns Biography

Joseph O. Johns
Assistant United States Attorney 
Chief, Environmental Crimes Sections
United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California
Los Angeles, CA

Joseph Johns has prosecuted environmental crimes at the state and federal level for over 22 years.  During that time period he has prosecuted all manner of state and federal environmental crimes cases, including dozens involving illicit discharges to sanitary sewer systems.  During his career, he has established numerous local, state, and federal environmental crimes task forces throughout the State of California.  Between 1997 and 1998, Mr. Johns served as the first Director of the Joint Center for Strategic Environmental Enforcement operated by the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency in Denver, Colorado.  Under his tenure, the Center was charged with developing criminal leads for violations of environmental offenses on a nationwide basis using high technology assets.   He is currently supervisses the largest federal Environmental Crimes Section (ECS) outside of the USDOJ’s ECS located in Washington, D.C.  Prior to joining the USDOJ, he served for five years as the Lead Prosecutor for the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office’s ECS.

Mr. Johns earned his BS in Science and Technology in International Affairs from the Edmund G. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and his JD from the Arizona State University College of Law.