Jeffrey Lang Oral History

Jeffrey was born in DeKalb, Illinois in 1954 and grew up initially on a farm where his father was the manager. When he was 5 years old, he moved into town with his parents and was interested in bug and feather collecting, hunting and fishing. He started working at the age of 13 for an entomologist in pesticide research. While a junior in college, he took advanced ornithology courses and decided that wildlife law enforcement would be the vocation he decided to pursue. Jeff graduated from Northern Illinois University with an undergraduate degree in biological sciences. 

Soon after college, he was offered a job with the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) for several months. However, before starting his career at the US Fish and Wildlife Service as a special agent. He reported to Detroit, Michigan in 1978 and spent 3 years here before reporting to Chicago, Illinois, close to his hometown. While in Chicago, he started law school and accepted a position with the FBI where he transferred to Cincinnati, Ohio and completed law school. He worked in Ohio for several years. Thereafter, he transferred to Miami, Florida where he worked on major cases including becoming the case agent on Manuel Noriega, the dictator of Panama. He spent several years in Florida before relocating back to Illinois in 1995 as the Assistant U.S Attorney.  He did prosecute a number of FWS wildlife cases as the Assistant U.S. Attorney in Illinois, and he taught prosecution to new agents as part of their training.

Jeff highlights several of the cases he worked on including in an undercover capacity and his respect for his supervisors and coworkers, in particular Rick Leach who he considers the finest special agent he ever worked with. 

Jeff is married to his wife, Nancy, and has one son named Colby.