Florida’s Office of Statewide Prosecution

Florida’s current Statewide Prosecutor is Bradley R. McVay, who was appointed by Attorney General James Uthmeier and sworn in on August 18, 2025. The Attorney General appoints the Statewide Prosecutor from a list of nominees selected by the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission to serve a four-year term.

The Office of Statewide Prosecution (OSOP) prosecutes crimes that impact two or more judicial circuits and was established to handle multi-circuit violations and coordinate with law enforcement and other prosecutors.

Under Florida law, crimes are prosecuted in the county in which the crime actually occurred. For this reason, prosecutors with the Office of Statewide Prosecution (often called the “statewide prosecutors”) travel to the courthouses in each judicial circuit in Florida. The statewide prosecutors focus mainly on large-scale organized criminal activity related to economic crimes, drug crimes, and computer crimes. These prosectors also focus on criminal cases involving witnesses or events occurring in several different parts of Florida or across county lines.

You might also need an attorney if you received an “investigative subpoena” that commands you to provide testimony at or documents to the Office of the Statewide Prosecutor in Tampa, FL.

The Florida Constitution directs the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution (OSP)  to prosecute crimes that impact two or more judicial circuits in the State of Florida.

The Statewide Prosecutor heads the eight agency offices throughout Florida, including an office in Tampa, FL. Other OSP Bureaus are in Tallahassee, West Palm Beach, Jacksonville, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, and Miami.

Attorneys for Prosecutions by the Statewide Prosecution

If the Office of Statewide Prosecution is prosecuting your case in the Tampa Bay area, contact an experienced criminal defense attorney at the Sammis Law Firm.

We represent clients charged with serious felony offenses for drugs, white-collar crimes, and computer crimes. While some criminal defense lawyers have never handled an OSP case, we are particularly familiar with the Tampa OSP Bureau and the way it prosecutes cases.

OSP cases are won or lost on:

• jurisdictional challenges

• motions to dismiss

• suppression issues

• warrant challenges

• multi-county venue attacks

You need a lawyer who files aggressive, substantive motions — not someone who just negotiates pleas. We have experience negotiating with the Florida Attorney General’s Office which often has higher sentencing recommendations, more rigid plea policies, broader investigations and multi-victim considerations.

Visit our main office in downtown Tampa, FL. We have additional offices in New Port Richey, across from the West Pasco Judicial Center courthouse and in Pinellas County, near the Criminal Justice Center (CJC) courthouse in Clearwater, FL.

Many of these cases involve complex economic crimes, white-collar crimes, computer crimes, money laundering, racketeering, or engaging in a scheme to defraud.

Our criminal defense attorneys are experienced in fighting to prevent the criminal, regulatory, administrative, and civil sanctions used by the statewide prosecutor’s office in these cases. Contact us to discuss your case today.

Call (813) 250-0500.

Overview of Florida’s Office of Statewide Prosecution

• Target Letter from Florida’s Statewide Prosecutors Office
• Jurisdiction of the Office of Statewide Prosecutor
• Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Statutory Authority of OSP
• Drug Crimes Prosecuted by the Office of Statewide Prosecution
• Local Offenses Prosecuted by the Statewide Prosecutor
• Current Priorities of the OSP
• Investigative Subpoena from the Statewide Prosecutor
• The Statewide Prosecutor’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit
• History of Florida’s Statewide Prosecutor
• Frequently Asked Questions for Florida OSP Cases
• Additional Resources

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Target Letter from Florida’s Statewide Prosecutors Office

The Statewide Prosecutors Office sends letters to the targets of a criminal investigation.

If you receive such a target letter from an Assistant Statewide Prosecutor, contact an experienced criminal defense attorney before you decide how to respond. Prosecutors call this letter the “target letter.”

Your attorney can meet with you to discuss the matter and contact the Office of Statewide Prosecution in Tampa to develop a strategy to fight the accusation and resolve the case on the best possible terms.

Although the target letter might invite you to contact the prosecutor yourself, it is better to retain an attorney to help you at every stage of the case.

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Jurisdiction of the Office of Statewide Prosecutor

If the Office of Statewide Prosecution prosecutes your case, the threshold issue is whether the Statewide Prosecutor has jurisdiction and authority to prosecute the case. The Office of the Statewide Prosecution was created in the Florida Constitution and was given specific powers by statute.

The Florida Constitution gives the Statewide Prosecutor authority to prosecute “violations of criminal laws occurring or having occurred, in two or more judicial circuits as part of a related transaction, or when any such offense is affecting or has affected two or more judicial circuits as provided by general law.” Art. IV, § 4(b), Fla. Const.

Attorneys working as assistant statewide prosecutors often focus on the following types of cases:

• large-scale drug crimes, including prescription drug trafficking/pill mills and narcotics trafficking;
• organized crime;
• human trafficking;
• large-scale fraud and theft cases; and
• organized criminal conspiracy cases affecting two or more judicial circuits.

According to the Attorney General’s website, in 2017-18, the statewide prosecutor’s office obtained the conviction of 457 defendants, resulting in a 96% conviction rate.

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Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Statutory Authority of OSP

The Office of the Statewide Prosecutor (“OSP”) is empowered under Fla. Stat. § 16.56(1)(a) to bring criminal prosecutions in Florida when one of the two following conditions is met:

• the demised crime must have occurred “in two or more judicial circuits as part of a related transaction;” or
• the crime must be “connected with an organized criminal conspiracy affecting two or more judicial circuits.”

If neither condition is met here, the defendant might file a motion to dismiss for lack of statutory authority for OSP to prosecute the case.

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Drug Crimes Prosecuted by the Office of Statewide Prosecution

Under Section 16.56, Florida Statutes, the Office of Statewide Prosecution (OSP) has the authority to investigate and prosecute any crime involving narcotics or other dangerous drugs when:

1. the offense is occurring, or has occurred, in two or more judicial circuits as part of a related transaction;
2. the offense is connected with an organized criminal conspiracy affecting two or more judicial circuits; or
3. the offense is facilitated by or connected to the use of the Internet.

A local offense then can still be within the authority of the OSP to investigate and prosecute if it falls in any of the three categories.

Most of the prosecutions for drug crimes out of the Tampa Office of the Statewide Prosecution involve prescription drug trafficking through a pill mill or large-scale narcotics trafficking operations.

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Local Offenses Prosecuted by the Statewide Prosecutor

In King v. State, 790 So. 2d 477 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001), the court discussed the authority of the OSP over offenses facilitated by or connected to Internet use, finding some legislative intent to expand the jurisdiction of the OSP to cover such offenses.

In 2007 the Florida Legislature recognized the multi-jurisdictional nature of the Internet by specifically adding paragraph (b) to Section 16.56, Florida Statutes, effectively expanding the authority of the OSP to investigate and prosecute any crime enumerated in Section 16.56(1)(a) that was facilitated by or connected to the use of the Internet and deeming that such crimes occur simultaneously in every Florida judicial circuit. Ch. 2007-143, Laws of Fla.

Subsequent legislative amendments to the statute provided for the addition of offenses to the OSP’s jurisdiction and changes to the language in paragraph (b). Section 16.56(1)(b) now reads:

“Investigate and prosecute any crime enumerated in paragraph (a) facilitated by or connected to the use of the Internet. Any such crime is a crime occurring in every judicial circuit within the state.”

The same 2007 legislative bill that expanded the authority of the OSP in Section 16.56(1)(b) also significantly expanded the application of Section 910.15, which deals with the jurisdiction and venue issues for criminal trial cases.

The amendment to that statute “makes the multi-jurisdiction provision (and statewide Internet provision) applicable to the trial of any crime facilitated by a communication using mail, telephone, newspaper, radio, television, Internet, or another means of electronic data communication.” FL Staff An., S.B. 1004, 2/23/2007.

This language would encompass electronic bank transmittals. Other provisions in the bill expanded Section 16.56 to include violations of statutes concerning abuse of children within the authority of the OSP when the crime is facilitated by or connected to the use of the Internet or any “electronic data storage or transmission device.” Id.

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Current Priorities of the OSP

The Florida Legislature has given the Office of Statewide Prosecution the authority to investigate and prosecute a wide variety of crimes. §16.56(1)(a), Fla. Stat. Over time, the priorities of the Florida Office of Statewide Prosecution changed. The Attorney General has stated that the current priorities include:

• human trafficking
• prescription drug trafficking
• pill mills
• criminal gangs
• violent crime
• fraud
• theft
• narcotics/synthetic drug trafficking

The goal of the Statewide Prosecutor in Florida is to disrupt criminal organizations through prosecution in court as well as civil, administrative, and regulatory sanctions, when appropriate.

For the fiscal year 2019-20, the OSP received $8,459,764.00 in funding and had 72.50 full-time positions for prosecuting multi-circuit organized crime. The current operating budget for OSP is listed as $7,129,390. See http://transparencyflorida.gov/.

Can the SPO apply for a wiretap under the Florida analog to the federal wiretap statute? Section 934.07(1) states, “The Governor, the Attorney General, the statewide prosecutor, or any state attorney may authorize an application to a judge of competent jurisdiction for, and such judge may grant in conformity with ss. 934.03-934.09 an order authorizing or approving the interception of, wire, oral, or electronic communications[.]”

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Investigative Subpoena from the Statewide Prosecutor

When a criminal investigation crosses state lines, the Statewide Prosecutor might issue an investigative subpoena that requires you to appear before an assistant statewide prosecutor at a particular time and place to provide truthful testimony. The subpoena is issued under the authority of the Circuit Court at the request of the Office of Statewide Prosecution, by and through the undersigned prosecuting attorney. The subpoena often provides:

“Failure to obey this Order is punishable as contempt of court.”

For this reason, if you receive such an investigative subpoena, you should contact an experienced criminal defense attorney to discuss your rights. For instance, the statewide prosecutor might tell you that Florida Statute §914.04 provides both use and derivative immunity for testimony given pursuant to an investigative subpoena. Yet the statute governing immunity requires compulsion to testify and not just the compulsion to attend.

For this reason, your criminal defense attorney might accompany you to the meeting required by the subpoena. But when the questioning begins, your attorney can help you take the Fifth Amendment. The Statewide Prosecutor might then seek a court order that compels you to testify. That order provides you more protection since you were compelled not just to attend but also to testify.

You should be aware, however, that the testimony given pursuant to an investigative subpoena does not provide transactional immunity for any subsequent prosecution based on evidence from legitimate independent sources.

Pursuant to Fla. Stat. §914.04, use and derivative use immunity guarantee a compelled witness not only that their words will not be used against them directly, but also that they will not be used indirectly as leads to the development of derivative evidence.

Questions remain over whether such immunity occurs when the statewide prosecutor issues the investigative subpoena instead of the State Attorney’s Office. Even in the absence of a claim of Fifth Amendment privilege, Section 914.04 automatically grants the witness use and derivative use immunity. Grant v. State, 832 So. 2d 770 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002), cert. denied, 538 U.S. 980 (2003).

In the Grant case, the court found that section 914.04 applies to the office of the statewide prosecutor even though Florida Statute §914.04 references the state attorney but not the statewide prosecutor. The court reasoned that while the statute does not explicitly include the OSP, Section 16.56(3), Florida Statutes, authorizes the OSP to exercise all powers granted by law to state attorneys.

If criminal charges are later brought using that testimony, an attorney can help you decide whether you are entitled to challenge the trial court’s jurisdiction to proceed by claiming immunity and seek relief by writ of prohibition if the trial court proceeds nevertheless.

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The Statewide Prosecutor’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit

Under Florida law, Statewide Prosecutor’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit “may refer any criminal violation so uncovered to the appropriate prosecuting authority.” § 16.59, Fla. Stat. For the criminal prosecutors within the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to have the authority to prosecute Medicaid fraud in State courts, they must be cross sworn with a local state attorney if the crime occurred in a single judicial circuit or with the Office of Statewide Prosecution if the crime occurred across two or more judicial circuits.

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History of Florida’s Statewide Prosecutor

On November 4, 1986 , 72.8% of voters in Florida passed Amendment 1 which added a position of Statewide Prosecutor to the Florida Constitution.

Article IV, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution provides:

The attorney general shall be the chief state legal officer. There is created in the office of the attorney general the position of statewide prosecutor. The statewide prosecutor shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the state attorneys to prosecute violations of criminal laws occurring or having occurred, in two or more judicial circuits as part of a related transaction, or when any such offense is affecting or has affected two or more judicial circuits as provided by general law. The statewide prosecutor shall be appointed by the attorney general from not less than three persons nominated by the judicial nominating commission for the supreme court, or as otherwise provided by general law.

FL. CONST. art. IV, §4(b).

Under this provision, courts have found two constitutional circumstances in which the OSP has concurrent prosecutorial jurisdiction with local state attorneys. For example, in Hart v. State, 50 Fla. L. Weekly D2428a, 2nd District, Case No. 2D2023-0493 (November 7, 2025), the court described those two constitutional circumstances in which the OSP has concurrent prosecutorial jurisdiction with local state attorneys as follows:

• “Occurrence” jurisdiction applies to crimes that take place in two or more judicial circuits as part of a related transaction.
• If provided by law, “effects” jurisdiction applies to crimes that affect two or more judicial circuits.

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Frequently Asked Questions for Florida OSP Cases

• Why is the Attorney General’s Office prosecuting my case instead of the local State Attorney?

  The Office of Statewide Prosecution only handles cases that allegedly occurred in two or more judicial circuits or involve complex, organized, or internet-based conduct. If OSP filed charges, it means investigators are claiming your case has a multi-county or statewide element, even if your actual conduct happened in one place. Whether OSP actually has that authority can be challenged.

• Can OSP prosecute me if everything happened in only one county?

  Not always. OSP must prove a statutory basis for its jurisdiction under Fla. Stat. § 16.56. If the case does not truly involve multiple counties, an ongoing criminal enterprise, or certain listed offenses, then the prosecution may be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. This is a common and effective defense when raised early.

• Is the Office of Statewide Prosecution more serious than a regular felony case?

  OSP cases tend to be more complex, involve more agencies, and often come with enhanced charges such as RICO, organized fraud, or trafficking offenses. The prosecutors are experienced with multi-defendant and multi-county investigations. You should treat these cases as high-risk and get counsel with specific OSP experience.

• Can an attorney help me challenge the jurisdiction of the Office of Statewide Prosecution?

  Yes. A motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction is sometimes the strongest defense in an OSP case. If the alleged acts do not meet the statutory requirements for OSP jurisdiction, the entire case, or specific charges, can be dismissed. These motions require a detailed review of the investigative file and the jurisdictional allegations.

• Does OSP rely heavily on digital or financial records?

  Yes. Many OSP cases involve electronic communications, financial records, blockchain data, or computer-forensic evidence. These cases often require an attorney who understands both digital investigations and the limits of what forensic tools can actually prove.

• Are plea offers from OSP usually harsher than from a local State Attorney’s Office?

  Often, yes. OSP typically takes cases involving organized or large-scale conduct, so their plea offers may include prison, restitution, or higher scoresheets. Negotiating with OSP requires a different approach than with local prosecutors, including early motion practice and targeted challenges to the scope of the investigation.

• I received an investigative subpoena from OSP. Could I be charged later?

  Yes. A subpoena typically indicates that you are either a target, subject, or witness in an ongoing multi-agency investigation. You should never respond to a subpoena from OSP without first consulting a criminal defense attorney familiar with statewide prosecutions.

• How does my attorney discovery in an OSP case?

  Discovery is provided under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.220 after charges are filed. Because these cases often involve multiple agencies, data requests, digital evidence, and multi-defendant investigations, discovery may be more complex and voluminous than in a typical felony case.

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Additional Resources

Florida Attorney General – Statewide Prosecutor – Visit the website of the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution which the Florida Constitution directs to prosecute crimes that impact two or more judicial circuits in the State of Florida. The Statewide Prosecutor in Florida serves a term of four years and acts as the agency head for eight offices throughout the state. Find information on the Tampa Office of Statewide Prosecution at the Office of the Attorney General on Concourse Center 4, 3507 E. Frontage Road, Suite 350. Tampa, FL 33607-1794.

List of State Attorneys in Florida – Since the elections in 2016, the names of several of the State Attorneys in Florida have changed. This recently updated list provides the name of each of the twenty (20) state attorneys elected in each judicial circuit (often called the “district attorney” in other jurisdictions), links to their website, address, phone numbers, and other contact information. Find information on the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association (FPAA) that serves the elected State Attorney for each judicial circuit and over 1,900 Assistant State Attorneys throughout Florida.

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Finding an Attorney for Statewide Prosecution Cases in Florida

If you are under investigation by the Office of Statewide Prosecution (OSP), received an investigative subpoena or target letter, or if OSP has already filed charges against you, contact an experienced criminal defense attorney immediately.

The attorneys at Sammis Law Firm represent clients targeted by the Office of Statewide Prosecution in Tampa and throughout Florida, including cases involving complex economic crimes, organized fraud, racketeering, drug trafficking, cyber or computer crimes, and multi-county investigations.

Our attorneys are particularly familiar with the Tampa OSP Bureau and the unique way statewide prosecutors pursue these cases. We know how to challenge jurisdiction, attack multi-county allegations, file motions to dismiss, and fight for the suppression of unlawfully obtained evidence. These issues are often decisive in OSP cases.

An aggressive criminal defense attorney can intervene early, negotiate strategically, and fight to prevent unfounded accusations from turning into severe felony charges.

Call attorney Leslie Sammis for any case involving the Florida Office of Statewide Prosecution.

Call 813-250-0500 or fill out an online consultation form to start building your case.

This article was last updated on Tuesday, December 9, 2025.