J. Douglas Overbey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, on Monday announced changes in some of the management and supervisory personnel for the district, including Chris Poole who has been chosen to serve as the Chattanooga Division branch chief.
Francis M. (Trey) Hamilton III has been chosen to serve as the first assistant U.S. attorney for the district. Mr. Hamilton, a native of Nashville, joined the office in 2002, as an assistant U.S. attorney. He had previously served as a deputy chief and senior litigation counsel in the Criminal Division. Over his career, Mr. Hamilton has overseen and tried numerous complex prosecutions ranging from corporate fraud to civil rights deprivation. Most recently, Mr. Hamilton was awarded the Attorney General’s Claudia J. Flynn Award for Professional Responsibility. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Hamilton worked for two prominent national law firms where he engaged in complex civil litigation, and before that, he served as law clerk to the Honorable Jerome Turner, United States District Judge for the Western District of Tennessee. Mr. Hamilton received his law degree from Washington & Lee University School of Law, where he graduated summa cum laude, was inducted into the Order of the Coif, and served on the Washington & Lee Law Review. He earned his undergraduate degree from Rhodes College, where he graduated magna cum laude and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.
Caryn L. Hebets has been chosen to serve as chief of the Criminal Division. Ms. Hebets, a native of Dearborn, Mich., joined the office as an assistant U.S. attorney in October 2005. She most recently served as a deputy chief of the Criminal Division and as the lead Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force attorney for the district. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Ms. Hebets was an assistant prosecuting attorney for Berrien County, Mich., in addition to, working with the FBI. She received her law degree from Wayne State University and her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. She is a member of the Michigan bar.
Matthew T. Morris has been chosen to serve as deputy criminal chief for the Knoxville office’s white collar and general crimes unit. He joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 1996. Since then, Mr. Morris has focused on prosecuting white-collar and child exploitation offenses, including environmental crime, fraud, public corruption, and child pornography. He has served as the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Senior Litigation Counsel since 2018. Mr. Morris has previously headed up the office’s Project Safe Childhood, Environmental Crime, Asset Forfeiture, and Affirmative Civil Enforcement programs. Prior to joining the office, he was an assistant regional counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Atlanta for five years. Mr. Morris earned his law degree in 1990, from the University of Oregon School of Law and his undergraduate degree from Kent State University in 1986.
Tracy Stone has been chosen to serve as deputy criminal chief for the Knoxville office’s violent crimes and drug trafficking unit. Since joining the office in January 2006, Mr. Stone had prosecuted violent crimes, firearms offenses, and large-scale drug cases. For most of his tenure with the office, Mr. Stone has been assigned to the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force. Established in 1982, to conduct comprehensive, multi-level attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations, the OCDETF program continues to be the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s drug supply reduction strategy. Since 2010, Mr. Stone has dedicated significant time to battling the opioid epidemic, which hit the Eastern District of Tennessee particularly hard. Mr. Stone has successfully prosecuted hundreds of cases, including many successful jury trials. One of his more high-profile trials includes Eric Boyd’s federal trial for his role in the carjacking and murders of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom. Another is the recent four-month trial of Sylvia Hofstetter and three medical providers for their roles in operating illegal pill mills in Tennessee and Florida. Immediately prior to joining the United States Attorney’s Office, Mr. Stone prosecuted a variety of criminal cases, including several homicides, as an assistant district attorney in Tennessee’s Fourth Judicial District (Sevier, Cocke, Jefferson, and Grainger Counties). Previously, Mr. Stone was in private practice with the Chattanooga firm of Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel. Mr. Stone holds a Bachelors in Agricultural Economics from The University of Tennessee and is a 1999 Cum Laude graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law.
David P. Lewen, Jr. has been chosen to serve as senior litigation counsel. Mr. Lewen joined the
U.S. Attorney’s Office in December 2007. Since then, Mr. Lewen has prosecuted a broad spectrum of complex cases, including large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering crimes, multimillion dollar corporate fraud offenses, public corruption, and violent crimes, including bank robbery, extortion, kidnapping, and carjacking. In 2019, Mr. Lewen served a one-year international detail with the U.S. State Department to Timor-Leste, the youngest democratic nation in the Indo-Pacific, where he served as the U.S. Embassy’s Resident Legal Advisor, providing rule-of-law training and case-based mentorship to Timorese judges, prosecutors, and police. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2007, Mr. Lewen served for five years on active duty in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, which included service in Korea, Hawaii, and Fort Bragg, N.C. Mr. Lewen received his law degree in 2002, from the Georgia State University College of Law, and in 1999, received his undergraduate degree in political science from Norwich University in Vermont, where he was the class valedictorian, a Distinguished Military Graduate, and a Rhodes Scholarship nominee.
Chris Poole has been chosen to serve as the Chattanooga Division branch chief. Mr. Poole joined
the office in 2002, and, for the past 18 years, has focused on prosecuting violent crime. To that end, Mr. Poole presently serves as the office’s Project Safe Neighborhoods coordinator and AntiGang coordinator. Prior to his employment with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Poole spent four years as an assistant district attorney in Hamilton County, where he was a Criminal Court Division supervisor. He received his undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University and his law degree from Georgia State University.
The Greeneville branch office continues to be supervised by Branch Chief Donald Wayne Taylor. Before joining the office as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in 2007, Mr. Taylor served as the chief assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Floyd County, Ky. He also has experience as an associate in a private law firm. He received a law degree from Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Del., after receiving an undergraduate degree from Penn State University.
In the Civil Division’s Office, Loretta Harber remains chief of the Civil Division. Ms. Harber, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised in Lexington, Ky, began in the office as an assistant U.S. attorney in 1987. She received her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Tennessee.
And, Robert C. McConkey, III continues to serve as deputy chief of the Civil Division. Mr. McConkey has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the office since 2010. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he worked as an associate in private practice handling commercial and general civil litigation and served as a deputy law director for Knox County, Tn. He received his law degree from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University after receiving an undergraduate degree from East Tennessee State University.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee represents the interests of the United States in federal court in both civil and criminal matters. The eastern district is the largest federal district in Tennessee, with a population of more than 2.6 million, encompassing 41 of the state’s 95 counties, and spanning 420 miles. In addition to the headquarters office in Knoxville, there are branch offices in Chattanooga and Greeneville. U.S. Attorney Overbey, who was sworn in as the presidentially appointed, senate confirmed U.S. Attorney in November 2017, serves as
the top-ranking federal law enforcement official in the district.