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Federal Criminal Charges
Please note: Don Waggoner Law, P.A. does not currently handle federal criminal cases. This page is general information. Our practice is Florida state criminal defense, including state charges that arise alongside federal matters.
Federal criminal cases are a different world from state court. They are investigated by federal agencies, prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office, and tried in U.S. District Court — for Central Florida, the Middle District of Florida, with Orlando's federal courthouse serving this area. The rules, the prosecutors, the sentencing system, and the stakes are all their own, and a person who learns they are the subject of a federal investigation is usually learning it late: federal cases are often built quietly for months before anyone is arrested or indicted.
Common Federal Charges
Conduct becomes a federal case when it violates federal law — typically through an interstate element, a federal program or agency, or sheer scale. Charges federal prosecutors bring in Florida include:
• Drug trafficking and conspiracy — multi-state or large-scale cases adopted by federal task forces, often charged as conspiracies that sweep in everyone connected to the operation
• Wire fraud, mail fraud, and bank fraud — the workhorses of federal white-collar prosecution, reaching almost any scheme that touches electronic communications or the mails
• Firearm offenses — felon-in-possession, firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking, and trafficking in firearms
• White-collar and financial crimes — money laundering, tax offenses, securities fraud, embezzlement from federally insured institutions
• Identity theft and access-device fraud — including aggravated identity theft, which carries its own mandatory consecutive sentence
• Computer and internet offenses — hacking, interstate threats and extortion, large-scale online fraud
• Health care fraud — Medicare and Medicaid billing cases against providers and businesses
• Immigration offenses — illegal reentry, harboring, and document fraud
• Child exploitation offenses — among the most severely punished crimes in the federal system
• Crimes on federal property or against federal officers and agencies
How Federal Cases Differ from State Cases
• The investigators: FBI, DEA, ATF, Homeland Security Investigations, IRS-CI, Secret Service — agencies with deep resources, long timelines, and tools like wiretaps, cooperating witnesses, and financial subpoenas.
• The charging process: felony charges come by grand jury indictment, and a “target letter” or agent contact often precedes charges — a critical window in which counsel matters enormously.
• Pretrial release: instead of a bond schedule, federal court holds detention hearings, and in many drug and violent cases the law presumes detention unless the defense rebuts it.
• Sentencing: the Federal Sentencing Guidelines drive outcomes through offense levels and criminal-history categories, alongside statutory mandatory minimums — and there is no parole in the federal system; most of a federal sentence is served.
• Conviction rates: the federal government indicts cases it has spent months preparing. Mounting a defense means starting just as early.
If federal agents contact you, the universal rule applies in full force: be polite, decline the interview, and say “I want to speak with a lawyer first.” Agents are allowed to approach you without warning precisely because statements made in that first conversation shape everything that follows.
Federal and State Cases Often Travel Together
One course of events frequently produces both federal and state charges — sometimes in different counties, sometimes months apart. A federal fraud investigation can run alongside a state grand-theft case in Osceola County; a federal gun charge can follow the same traffic stop that produced a state drug-possession case. Under the dual-sovereignty doctrine, separate prosecutions by both governments are legally possible. The state case is never a footnote: it carries its own consequences for your record, your driver's license, and your liberty, and what happens in one courtroom can echo loudly in the other.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know whether my case is federal or state?
The paperwork says: United States of America v. You in U.S. District Court is federal; State of Florida v. You in circuit or county court is state. Most arrests in Osceola County — even serious ones — are state cases.
What is a target letter?
A letter from the U.S. Attorney's Office telling you that you're the target of a grand jury investigation. It usually means an indictment is being considered — and it is the moment to get counsel, not to call the prosecutor and explain.
Is there bail in federal court?
Federal courts decide release at a detention hearing under the Bail Reform Act rather than a bond schedule, and some charges carry a presumption of detention. Preparation for that hearing matters.
Can I be prosecuted by both Florida and the federal government for the same conduct?
Legally, yes — they are separate sovereigns. Whether both actually prosecute depends on policies and case-specific factors.
Talk to a Lawyer Before You Talk to Anyone
If you've been contacted by agents, received a target letter, or have charges pending — or you're facing state charges connected to a federal matter — call or text 407-846-8008 for a free, confidential consultation with former prosecutor Chad Seibel. Hablamos español. Office visits by appointment only.
Don Waggoner Law, P.A. does not currently handle federal criminal cases. Our practice is Florida state criminal defense in Osceola County, Orange County, and throughout Central Florida, including state charges that arise alongside federal matters.