(KGNS) - Aaron Reitz, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, says the Laredo office is on pace for a record year, with more than 4,000 indictments expected by the end of the year.

Reitz said the office has already logged 3,500 cases, crediting coordination between law enforcement and prosecutors for the pace."It is a very, very bad time to be a criminal in South Texas, and in Laredo in particular. We are looking for bad guys. We are hunting them down, smoking them out," Reitz said.

Reitz, who is based in Houston, took office in July.