A former district attorney in the state court system was sworn in Monday as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Margaret “Meg” Heap to the post effective Monday. The swearing-in ceremony took place at the federal courthouse in Augusta

“I am incredibly honored to serve as the United States attorney for the Southern District of Georgia,” Heap said in a prepared statement. “I look forward to working with our partners in law enforcement to make this a safer place to live and raise our children.”

Heap began her legal career in 1986 as a volunteer coordinator and victim advocate with the Chatham County District Attorney’s Victim-Witness Assistance Program. After earning a doctorate in law from Mercer University in 1992, she served as an assistant district attorney in the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit.

From 1995 through 2010, Heap worked first as an assistant district attorney in the Eastern Judicial Circuit, then served two terms as the circuit’s district attorney.

Most recently, Heap was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles in 2021, where she served as both the board’s chair and vice chair.

The Southern District of Georgia covers 43 of the state’s 159 counties with a population of more than 1.6 million, including the cities of Savannah, Augusta, and Brunswick.

Capitol Beat is a nonprofit news service operated by the Georgia Press Educational Foundation that provides coverage of state government to newspapers throughout Georgia. For more information visit capitol-beat.org.