SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Phillip Talbert, a veteran prosecutor who rose to lead nearly 100 federal lawyers as the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento, will resign from his post effective Saturday.

Talbert, a Democrat appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022, said in a wide-ranging interview with The Sacramento Bee that he was leaving to make way for a new U.S. Attorney yet to be named by President-elect Donald Trump.

After 23 years in California’s Eastern District — which spans most of interior California from Bakersfield to the Oregon border — Talbert, 62, leaves behind a reputation for fairness and a diverse team in which half of the managers are women and more lawyers are from traditionally under-represented groups.

Federal prosecutions on his watch have focused on bigger players more than small-time actors, going after gang and cartel leaders in drug and firearm trafficking cases rather than netting users. And, in the case of the child exploitation unit, seeking the makers of child pornography more than those merely possessing and distributing it.

Talbert served two stints as acting U.S. Attorney for the region before he was formally named to the post. Before that, he served as the office’s second-in-command under two prior U.S. attorneys, including McGregor W. Scott, who was appointed during Trump’s first term as president.

Leading lawyers, he said, is a lot like coaching soccer, his other passion: focus on the people, give them what they need to succeed and praise what they do right.

“If you have good players, let them play, see what they can do,” he said. “You give them guidance and you set them up for success.”

Talbert’s office is filled with keepsakes from his long career, interspersed with soccer memorabilia. He’s got three large trophies from coaching student-athletes in Davis, and a Luis Suarez soccer player doll propped against one wall. He delights in explaining Suarez’s infamous habit of occasionally biting opposing players, and says that the Uruguayan’s former team, Liverpool FC, is his favorite.

He hasn’t decided what he would be doing next — he said he was not retiring — and he’ll probably look for something involving management and the law. Or soccer.

“Being the U.S. Attorney, after being an assistant U.S. attorney here for two decades, was such an honor and a privilege and the highlight of my career,” Talbert said. “I thought I would just devote all my time and attention to that and not think about what happens next.”

As U.S. attorney, Talbert focused on cases involving firearms trafficking, gangs including the Aryan Brotherhood and MS-13, child exploitation and fraud. He began a criminal prosecution of former Sacramento City Council member Sean Loloee for alleged abuses of labor and immigration laws at his Viva Supermarket chain, among other charges.

A graduate of Harvard University and UCLA’s School of Law, Talbert served in a variety of posts over more than 20 years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento, starting as an assistant U.S. attorney handling cases involving narcotics and violent crime, then as chief of appeals and training before being named first assistant U.S. attorney, the office’s second-in-command.

Talbert was also involved in founding the region’s first diversity hiring fair for lawyers seeking jobs in both the private and public sectors in Sacramento in 2022.

One of the most unusual cases handled during his tenure was filed in April against 12 people accused of designing and running a decade-long scheme to fake out California’s smog check system for automobiles, Talbert said.

For a fee, a car dealer or smog repair shop could plug a vehicle into a device meant to mimic the car’s onboard diagnostics port. The device, dubbed an OBDNator, would allegedly send fake codes to state environmental regulators falsely indicating a successful smog test.

The case is still working its way through the legal system and a date for trial has not been set.

Another case still in the works involves subpoenas issued for the leaders of drug cartels in Mexico, part of Talbert’s push to pursue higher-level actors who engage in crimes the office believes endanger the public.

“We’re using the intelligence that we get on drug trafficking here in the district to move up the chain,” he said. “We’re seeking to extradite and prosecute leaders of the cartels in Mexico who are really the ones culpable in sending the huge amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl here into our district, and then using our district as a way station to transport them around the country.”

In terms of white-collar crime, a case that stands out for Talbert is that of Fresno-based Bitwise Industries, whose founders Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin Jr., were sentenced last month to 11 and 9 years in prison, respectively, for bilking investors out of $115 million.

Prosecutors said the pair sold themselves as bringing the tech startup vibe of Silicon Valley to Fresno, creating jobs and boosting the economy for far less money than it would cost in the Bay Area. But when the initial concept struggled, the duo faked bank records and continued to woo investors, creating what eventually became a Ponzi scheme.

Talbert’s departure will leave an opening for Trump to fill with a Republican appointee. But that process could take a year or more. In the meantime, Michele Beckwith will lead the office, he said.

Beckwith, a top lieutenant in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, has risen through the ranks over 15 years in the department, starting as a trainee under Talbert.

She called him a brilliant attorney, with a passion for fairness, service and justice. He appointed the district’s first female leaders in three departments — as Fresno office chief, and as division leaders handling both criminal and civil cases.

“He has had an enormous impact on this office, having hired, trained or promoted almost everyone here, including me,” Beckwith said. “His legacy will be felt for many years to come.”

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