Senior Assistant District Attorney Joe D’Agostino was born in Toronto, Canada. When he was 1 year old, his family moved to Southern California and then to New Jersey, where he graduated high school. D’Agostino attended Rutgers University before transferring to the California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), where he received his bachelor of arts degree in Economics. While attending CSUF, D’Agostino played club hockey.
D’Agostino went on to graduate with honors from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, where he received a Dean's Merit Academic Full Scholarship and was a member of the St. Thomas More Law Honor Society. While studying at Loyola, D’Agostino also served as an editor for the International and Comparative Law Journal.
D’Agostino joined the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) in 1985 as a deputy district attorney, where he served in the Juvenile and West Municipal Courts and on the Felony Panel. In 1989, he was assigned as the Felony Calendar Leader at South Municipal Court. He then served in the Major Fraud Unit. In 1993, D’Agostino was promoted to senior deputy district attorney, where he continued to work in the Major Fraud Unit before becoming the assistant head of court at the Juvenile Justice Center. Following a year of service in this position, D’Agostino worked in the Gang Unit and was later appointed as the assistant head of court in the Gang and TARGET Division.
D’Agostino was promoted to the position of assistant district attorney in 2002 and led the Consumer/Environmental/Insurance Fraud Unit. Some of his notable prosecutions include People v. ARCO and People v. Shell Oil Company, the first prosecutions by a local district attorney’s office that forced major oil companies to clean up gas stations in order to protect public's water supply.
After five years in the unit, D’Agostino was promoted in 2007 to senior assistant district attorney, where he currently manages General Felonies and Economic Crimes. In 2010, he oversaw the prosecution of People v. Toyota Motors Sales, USA., Inc., in which the OCDA filed a civil lawsuit against Toyota Motors Sales, U.S.A., Inc. for endangering the public through the sale of defective vehicles.
D’Agostino served on the Board of Directors for the Orange County Bar Foundation from 2010 to 2013 and is a former member of the Orange County Bar Association Judiciary Committee. He is married and has three children.