Prosecutions for June 2026
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during June 2026 the government reported 727 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 10.2 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged are based on case-by-case information obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (see Table 1).
When monthly 2026 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was the same. Prosecutions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are down 13.9 percent from levels reported in 2021.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Prosecutions
The decrease from the levels five years ago in prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of prosecutions of this type recorded on a month-to-month basis. Where a prosecution was initially filed in U.S. Magistrate Court and then transferred to the U.S. District Court, the magistrate filing date was used since this provides an earlier indicator of actual trends. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. The one and five-year rates of change in Table 1 and in the sections that follow are all based upon this six-month moving average. To view trends year-by-year rather than month-by-month, see TRAC's annual report series for a broader picture.
Cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
The largest number of prosecutions of these matters in June 2026 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 55 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (19.7%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (16.6%), "Organized Crime-Emerging Organization" (3.7%), "Violence-Other" (2.9%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In June 2026, 104 defendants in cases for these matters were filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. These courts handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In addition, complaints are sometimes filed in the magistrate courts before an indictment or information is entered. In these cases, the matter starts in the magistrate courts and later moves to the district court where subsequent proceedings take place.
In the magistrate courts in June the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 56.7 percent of all magistrate filings in June.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (11.5%), "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (6.7%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In June 2026, 623 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during June there were an additional 85 defendants whose cases moved from the magistrate courts to the U.S. district courts after an indictment or information was filed. The sections which follow cover both sets of cases and therefore cover all matters filed in district court during June.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during June 2026 referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 351 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 94 2 2 2 More 18 USC 1961 - RICO - definitions 26 3 - - More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 21 4 4 3 More 18 USC 933 - Trafficking in firearms 18 5 - - More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 17 6 6 6 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 14 7 5 5 More 18 USC 844 - Explosives - Importation and storage of explosives 6 8 9 10 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 6 8 7 7 More 18 USC 932 - Straw purchase firearms 5 10 - - More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841. "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "RICO - definitions" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1961.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 69 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 that involves " Attempt and conspiracy ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 38.8 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Firearms; Penalties " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 924 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 12.8 percent — was " Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts " (Title 26 U.S.C Section 5861 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 39.6 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Hobbs Act " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1951 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In June 2026 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 249.8 prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of prosecutions per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 prosecutions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago R. I. 3,021 28 1 89 90 More W Virg, N 1,676 13 2 28 27 More D. C. 1,196 7 3 48 85 More Tenn, W 1,157 15 4 64 18 More Ohio, S 1,111 57 5 60 19 More Ala, M 896 9 6 20 67 More Montana 844 8 7 26 45 More S Dakota 790 6 8 49 34 More Texas, E 783 30 9 5 13 More Ind, N 766 17 10 24 16 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of Rhode Island — with 3021 prosecutions as compared with 249.8 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during June 2026.
The Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) ranked 2nd.
District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery), now ranked 6th , and Northern District of Indiana (South Bend) at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 20th and 24th one year ago and 67th and 16th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 600 percent — was Rhode Island . This was the same district that had the largest increase — 300 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 32.3 percent — was Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery). But over the past five years, Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) showed the largest drop — 28.6 percent.
Top Ranked District Judges
At any one time, there are about 680 federal District Court judges working in the United States. The judges recorded with the largest number of new crime cases of this type during June 2026 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Newman, Michael J. Ohio, S 26 1 - 335 More Rose, Thomas M. Ohio, S 18 2 268 335 More Love, John D. Texas, E 12 3 49 417 More Barker, J. Campbell Texas, E 10 4 20 511 More Jennings, Rebecca Grady Ken, W 9 5 41 335 More Barber, Thomas Patrick Fla, M 8 6 104 511 More Hopkins, Jeffery Paul Ohio, S 7 7 - - More Trauger, Aleta Arthur Tenn, M 5 8 165 36 More Morales, David Steven Texas, S 5 8 16 132 More Dimitrouleas, William P. Fla, S 4 10 64 54 More Middlebrooks, Donald M. Fla, S 4 10 205 68 More Valdez, Maria Ill, N 4 10 364 266 More Brady, Holly Ann Ind, N 4 10 64 68 More Doughty, Terry Alvin La, W 4 10 12 335 More Michelson, Laurie Mich, E 4 10 104 132 More Richardson, Eli Jeremy Tenn, M 4 10 268 36 More Kacsmaryk, Matthew Joseph Texas, N 4 10 205 335 More Ramos, Nelva Gonzales Texas, S 4 10 76 266 More Novak, David John Virg, E 4 10 205 266 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 6 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capita, while the remaining 13 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 19 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Michael J. Newman in the Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) ranked 1st with 26 defendants in cases.
Judge Thomas M. Rose in the Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) ranked 2nd with 18 defendants in cases.
Judge John D. Love in the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) ranked 3rd with 12 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: August 12, 2026
