INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ A judge has sworn in the new federal prosecutor for Indiana's Southern District.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Richard Young swore in Josh Minkler in as U.S. attorney on Thursday. Under federal law, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana appointed Minkler to fill the position effective immediately. 

Minkler had served as acting U.S. attorney after his predecessor, Joe Hogsett, resigned last July to explore running for mayor of Indianapolis. 

The Muncie native and graduate of Wabash College and the Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington also has served as the first assistant U.S. attorney and chief of the office's Drug and Violent Crime Unit. Minkler became an assistant U.S. attorney in 1994.