The newest member of the Carbon County District Attorney's Office was sworn in Monday.

Attorney Brian B. Gazo of Mahoning Township took the oath of office as the county's full-time assistant district attorney before President Judge Roger Nanovic in front of family and friends.Gazo replaces Sarah E. Modrick, who moved from the position to the full-time assistant public defender position on Aug. 3."I'm excited and anxious," Gazo said after the ceremony. "This has been something that I have been thinking about for some time now and the time was right now. I am excited for the chance to do public service and work to keep law and order in the county."Nanovic congratulated him on his new title."It's an impressive résumé," he told Gazo.District Attorney Jean A. Engler spoke about Gazo's experience in law that will help him in his new endeavor.Gazo, a native of Lansford, has practiced law over the past 15 years, most recently working in the law firm Strubinger & Gazo in Palmerton.He graduated from Marian Catholic High School in 1990, from King's College in 1994 and from the Widener University School of Law in 1998.He was admitted to practice law in the state in November 1998.His experience includes internships with AFSCME Council 13 and the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, Torts Litigation Unit; and employment as a law clerk with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Bureau of Workers' Compensation and then as a law clerk to the Honorable Carol K. McGinley of Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas.He joined Hansford & Strubinger in Palmerton in July 2000. The firm eventually became Strubinger & Gazo in 2007."Over his past 15 years of private practice, attorney Gazo represented thousands of clients," Engler said."Attorney Gazo served as a criminal defense conflicts counsel for Carbon County from 2000 until 2015, and served as the solicitor for the recorder of deeds office between 2004 and 2015."Gazo was also admitted to practice law before the United States Supreme Court in 2005 and the U.S. Middle District of Pennsylvania in 2007.He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Carbon CountyBar Association and the Pennsylvania Association for Justice; as well as served as co-chair of the county bar association's young lawyer division from 2003 to 2008.Outside of the courtroom, Gazo is an active member of St. Katharine Drexel Church in Lansford as a lector and eucharistic minister; and is a member of the St. Thomas More Society, serving on its board of governors from 2012 to 2014.He is the son of the late Bernard and Madelyn (Lesko) Gazo and has two sisters, Jacquelyn Mitchell and Dr. Jennifer Vermillion.He is married to JoLynn (Horowski) Gazo of Lansford for the past 13 years and is the proud uncle of three: Ethan Vermillion, a rising freshman engineering major at the University of Pittsburgh; Maxwell Vermillion, an incoming freshman at the Lehigh Valley Charter School for the Arts and Oleksa McAndrew, a fifth grade student at L.B. Morris Elementary in Jim Thorpe.