Meet the U. S. Attorney

Kenneth L. Parker, U.S. Attorney

Kenneth L. Parker was sworn in on November 23, 2021, as the 45th United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.  President Joseph Biden nominated Parker on September 28, 2021, and the United States Senate unanimously approved his confirmation on November 19, 2021.

Parker was appointed an Assistant United States Attorney in 1999, designated to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Division of the Office.  He would eventually be named the District’s Criminal Chief, serving from 2011 through 2019.  Prior to being named as the Criminal Chief, Parker served as Chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force from 2010-2011.  Parker served also as a judicial law clerk for the late Honorable S. Arthur Spiegel, United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

Parker is a lifelong resident of Cincinnati, Ohio.  He graduated from Tuskegee University in 1994 and earned his law degree from Indiana University School of Law (Bloomington) in 1997.

As the United States Attorney, Parker is the chief federal law enforcement officer for the Southern District of Ohio, serving more than five million residents in 48 of the 88 counties in Ohio.  Parker oversees the investigation and litigation of all criminal and civil cases brought on behalf of the United States in the Southern District of Ohio as well as those matters that may need to be defended on behalf of the nation.  Parker supervises an office of approximately 65 Assistant United States Attorneys and 60 support staff personnel, in three offices located in Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus.  Those cases include violations involving narcotics, public corruption, civil rights, financial, cybercrime, firearms and gun violence, healthcare fraud, child exploitation, national security threats, immigration, human trafficking and tax crimes.

Throughout his career, Parker has always believed in maintaining a strong connection to the community.  Prior to its phasing out, Parker assisted with the Department of Justice’s Weed and Seed efforts, which was a residentially driven initiative to focus on and address community issues such as substance abuse, drug trafficking and repeat violent offenders while simultaneously revitalizing the areas through prevention and intervention strategies.  The Office, the Federal Executive Board of Greater Cincinnati as well as the City of Cincinnati recognized him for his tireless dedication to the program.

Parker has always dedicated a substantial amount of his free time to speak to and mentor youth in the community, encouraging them to stay away from drugs and other issues that cause problems.  He firmly believes that crime prevention is an essential part of enforcement.  More specifically, Parker often makes presses that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” when it comes to serving as a federal prosecutor.

Parker has served as president of the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and the president of the Black Lawyers Association of Cincinnati.  He is a proud alumnus of the Summer Work Experience in Law program (SWEL), where he would later serve as Chair of its Board.  The SWEL program seeks to increase the number of African Americans in the legal profession.  During his service as Board Chair, Parker worked to expand the program from Cincinnati to the cities of Hamilton, Dayton and Columbus, Ohio and Louisville, Kentucky.

Parker resides in Cincinnati with his wife and twin daughters.