Career profile
Name: James Wahlrab
Title: U.S. Marshal 2002-09, Southern Ohio District
Age: 53
Hometown: Dayton
Family: Wife, Sandra; daughter, Melinda, 25; son, Craig, 23.
Career accomplishments: First career deputy U.S. marshal to be appointed marshal for the southern district of Ohio. Deputies have made more than 10,000 arrests and cleared more than 9,100 warrants during his tenure. Honored by President George W. Bush in 2005 as one of the best U.S. marshal districts in the country.
DAYTON — “A plane has crashed into the World Trade Center,” crackled over the radio as Jim Wahlrab sat armed in an unmarked U.S. marshal’s vehicle.
The circumstances that put Wahlrab in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, are eerie.
It was Wahlrab who eight years before had drawn up a security plan to protect prosecutors, witnesses and judges involved in the conviction appeals of those responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
“I knew right away (9/11) was a terrorist attack,” Wahlrab said recently from his then eighth-floor office in the downtown Dayton federal building.
His ties to both tragedies will stay with Wahlrab, who has since left his post as U.S. marshal for the 48 southwestern Ohio counties.
Wahlrab has retired after a 23-year career with the marshals service that many in his district say serves as a benchmark for his successors.
“He’s the best of the best,” said Deputy William Taylor, the district’s spokesman.
Wahlrab, 53, was the first in the district’s history to work his way up from a deputy in 1979 to the U.S. marshal position.
After urging from colleagues and friends, he applied for the position online. He made no phone calls, nor asked favors of politicians.
Four rounds of interviews later, plus an exhaustive vetting by White House staff and the U.S. Department of Justice, Wahlrab was appointed a U.S. marshal by President George W. Bush.
But the 94 district marshals across the country serve at the pleasure of the president, and President Obama chose Wahlrab’s chief deputy, Cathy Jones, to replace him.
“I’ve had a good career, and it’s time for me to use my skills elsewhere,” he said. “I’m proud of my service. I got to defend the Constitution of the United States.”
In doing so, Wahlrab helped establish the Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team in 2005 (SOFAST).
Since its inception, SOFAST deputies have arrested more than 10,000 criminals.
He has made it a point to track sexual predators and make sure those convicted are in compliance with sex offender laws.
Wahlrab’s 21 deputies have cleared more than 9,100 warrants since 2005 — a mark Wahlrab is most proud of.
“That’s what I will miss the most — the adrenaline rush of getting the fugitive,” Wahlrab said. “See, we go after the most violent offenders. Getting those guys in custody is what it’s all about.”
Getting the bad guy was what interested Wahlrab in the first place. He began as a clerk for the U.S. Marshals Office in Dayton at age 17.
He pursued a criminal justice degree at the University of Dayton; met his wife, Sandy; and by 1978, was working as a corrections officer in Indiana.
In 1979, he took a $2,000-a-year pay cut when he was deputized into the U.S. Marshals Office.
His salary was upwards of $117,000 as he retired, according to the U.S. Marshal Web site.
Wahlrab deflected most personal questions during a 60-minute interview.
“See you want to make this about me, but I want to make it about the marshal service,” he said.
Wahlrab would not say where he lived, though it is still in the Miami Valley.
He talks about his family to a point — citing safety concerns.
He said he and Sandy like to bike and travel — both went on a recent cruise to Alaska — and he keeps up with the UD Flyers and Cincinnati Bearcats.
“I also have an office in Columbus, so I root for the Buckeyes, which is a prerequisite,” he said.
His last day as a marshal was Oct. 3. When reached the following Tuesday, Wahlrab was heading on a 10-mile bike ride.
“So far it seems like a long weekend,” he said. “It’s the first time since I was 10 I haven’t had a job, so it’s a little weird.”
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