Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the appointment of Frank Ospino, Kathleen E. Roberts and Mary Kreber Varipapa to judgeships in the Orange County Superior Court.

Ospino, 55, of Santa Ana, has served as the Orange County Public Defender since 2012 and has served in several positions at the Orange County Public Defender’s Office since 1992, including interim public defender, senior assistant public defender, assistant public defender and senior deputy public defender in the Alternate Defender’s Office. Ospino was an attorney in private practice from 1990 to 1992 and a deputy public defender at the Orange County Public Defender’s Office from 1985 to 1990. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Irvine. Ospino fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Luis A. Rodriguez. He is a Democrat.

Roberts, 50, of Glendale, has served as a deputy district attorney at the Orange County District Attorney’s Office since 1993. She was an attorney at McClintock, Weston et al. from 1991 to 1993 and at Latham and Watkins from 1990 to 1991. Roberts earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Pepperdine University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pepperdine University. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Francisco P. Briseno. Roberts is a Democrat.

Kreber Varipapa, 47, of Seal Beach, has served as an attorney in the Orange County Public Defender’s Office since 1998. She was an adjunct professor at the University of Phoenix Criminology Department from 2004 to 2007 and an attorney at Orange County Juvenile Defenders from 1996 to 1998 and at Santa Clara Juvenile Defenders from 1996 to 1997. Kreber Varipapa earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Western State University College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Long Beach. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Ronald P. Kreber. Kreber Varipapa is registered without party preference.

The compensation for each of these positions is $189,041.