Investiture ceremony marks Kriegshauser leadership

KANSAS CITY, KAN. - The U.S. Attorney's Office -District of Kansas held an investiture ceremony at the Robert J. Dole Federal Courthouse in Kansas City, Kansas, for U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser. Chief Judge John W. Broomes administered the oath.

Kriegshauser serves as the 43rd U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas. He began serving as Interim U.S. Attorney in July 2025 and was eventually confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2025. An investiture is a formal, ceremonial event to mark the appointment. Judges, former U.S. Attorneys, law enforcement, and community members attended the event on August 21, 2026.

Kriegshauser supervises the prosecution of all federal crimes and litigation of all civil matters in which the U.S. has an interest. He leads a staff of attorneys, paralegals, and support professionals working in offices associated with the federal courts in Wichita, Kansas City, and Topeka.

"Nearly two-thirds of Kansas' 420 law enforcement agencies have fewer than 10 full-time officers. We have been working with our partners to alleviate some of the strain on agencies feeling overwhelmed," said Kriegshauser. "My goal is for the federal government to be a force multiplier in support of state and local officers. There are certain cases like transnational drug cartels and cybercrime that the federal government is in a unique position to bring criminals to justice."

Through the first 10 months of the fiscal year, USAO-KS projects for 427 indictments, which is fifth among the 25 medium USAO districts (up from 10th last FY) and 29th among all 94 districts in the country (up from 48th last FY). This caseload reflects a projected 39 percent increase for USAO-KS year on year. In particular, violent crime indictments are projected to be up 50% compared to last fiscal year.

Here are some noteworthy sentencings, convictions, guilty pleas, and indictments since Kriegshauser took office.

FINANCIAL FRAUD

• Two former employees of the Wyandotte County District Court received prison sentences for using their positions in the accounting office to steal approximately $980,000 in taxpayer funds.
• A federal jury convicted union leaders of racketeering, fraud, and embezzlement in a scheme involving theft of union-member dues through the award of no-show jobs, lavish travel, unearned vacation payouts, and an unauthorized $7 million loan made to a union-related bank.

VIOLENT CRIME

• Four defendants in a kidnapping received prison sentences in a crime where the victim was bound and blindfolded for approximately 10 hours.
• An illegal alien from Mexico was sentenced to 20 years in prison for violently attacking a federal law enforcement agent, the maximum punishment allowed under the statute. The defendant assaulted and strangled an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deportation officer.

PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD

• A Kansas man was sentenced to 210 months in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release after he directed a foreign national living in another country to create child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and send him the images.
• A Kansas man was sentenced to 25 years in prison after he uploaded photographs of women and children he knew into a publicly available Artificial Intelligence platform. He then utilized AI to manipulate and merge their images into hundreds of depictions of child sexual abuse material.

NATIONAL SECURITY

• The FBI arrested three men on charges that they conspired to provide support ISIS, a foreign terrorist organization. The defendants allegedly discussed violent attacks on U.S. servicemembers.
• An Oklahoma man pleaded guilty after lying to U.S. customs officials while attempting to board a flight to China with proprietary information belonging to his employer.

FENTANYL & OTHER NARCOTICS TRAFFICKING

• An illegal alien from Mexico was sentenced to 20 years in prison as the ringleader of a drug trafficking ring supplied by a Mexican cartel. A Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) investigation led to the convictions of more than a dozen defendants who either worked for or were clients of the operation.
• Fifteen defendants were sentenced to prison after the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) dismantled a Kansas City metro-based drug trafficking ring linked to Mexico. The smuggled cocaine was distributed in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

Ryan A. Kriegshauser

Kriegshauser began his legal career at a firm in Kansas City litigating constitutional claims, complex commercial litigation, and regulatory defense. Kriegshauser then led the Kansas Secretary of State's Office as Deputy Secretary of State for the Office of Legal Counsel and Policy before becoming General Counsel at the Office of the Kansas Securities Commissioner. In 2018, Kriegshauser entered private practice where his work included constitutional claims. election law, business litigation as well as other civil and criminal matters.

Kriegshauser received a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University and a law degree from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. He continues to serve in the U.S. Navy Reserve as a Commander.

###