Margaret “Meg” Heap took the oath of office Monday morning, administered by U.S. District Judge J. Randal Hall, to become the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. Attorney General Pamela Bondi appointed Mrs. Heap as the interim U.S. Attorney effective August 18. The swearing-in ceremony took place at the United States Courthouse in Augusta.
“I am incredibly honored to serve as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia,” said U.S. Attorney Heap. “I look forward to working with our partners in law enforcement to make this a safer place to live and raise our children.”
Before her appointment, Heap served as the Chairman and Vice Chair of Georgia’s State Board of Pardons and Paroles. Mrs. Heap was appointed to the Board on January 19, 2021, by Governor Brian Kemp. In 1986, Heap began her legal career as a Volunteer Coordinator and Victim Advocate with the Chatham County District Attorney’s Victim-Witness Assistance Program. After attending Mercer University Law School, she received her Juris Doctor in 1992 and went on to serve as an Assistant District Attorney in the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit, where she prosecuted felonies in the Superior and Juvenile Court.
From 1995-2010, Mrs. Heap served the citizens of the Eastern Judicial Circuit as an Assistant District Attorney and later served two terms as the District Attorney. As the District Attorney, she was named “2019 District Attorney of the Year” by the District Attorneys’ Association of Georgia.
As U.S. Attorney, Heap is the chief federal law enforcement officer for the Southern District of Georgia, which covers 43 of Georgia’s 159 counties with a population of more than 1.6 million people and includes the cities of Savannah, Augusta, and Brunswick. She leads a team of approximately 70 attorneys and staff in prosecuting federal crimes in the district and defending the United States in civil cases brought in U.S. District Court. Learn more about the district at www.justice.gov/usao-sdga/about-district.