South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has appointed Pennington County State’s Attorney Mark Vargo as the state Attorney General, effective today (June 28, 2022).
Last week (June 21, 2022), Vargo was the lead prosecutor in the Senate impeachment trial against the now former Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg.
Vargo will serve as Attorney General through Jan. 6, 2023. The new Attorney General is scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 7, 2023.
Vargo says he’s worked closely with the Attorney General’s office in the past and has a high respect for the abilities of the staff. He says his goal is to provide office members the support they need so they can keep doing their jobs and honoring the rule of law for the citizens of South Dakota.
Vargo has more than 30 years of professional and public legal experience. He graduated from Princeton University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and earned his law degree with honors from Georgetown Law Center in 1988. He has served as an Assistant State’s Attorney for Florida’s Dade County, Assistant United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota and has been Pennington County State’s Attorney since 2013. He was nominated in 2010 for a U.S. Department of Justice’s Director’s Award and was named the South Dakota Prosecutor of the Year in 2015. Vargo has been active in the Rapid City area serving as an adjunct professor, high school debate coach and youth soccer coach.
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