The US Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General released the findings of an audit of the FBI’s handling of child sex offenses on Thursday.
The findings do not paint the Federal Bureau of Investigation in a very favorable light.
The DOJ is very direct about the purpose of this audit: “The purpose of this audit is to evaluate the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) compliance with laws, regulations, and policies related to the way it handles tips about hand sex offenses. accused of child abuse.
“‘Hand’ sex offense is a term used to describe offenses that involve physical sexual contact.
“This audit is intended to follow up on issues identified in the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) July 2021 report on the FBI’s handling of allegations against Lawrence Gerard Nassar (the OIG Nassar Report) and to respond to congressional inquiries about the FBI’s practices in protecting children.”
If the name “Nassar” rings a bell, it is because it is famous for the former Michigan State and USA gymnastics team doctor who used his position to sexually abuse hundreds of girls and women.
Nassar, who also pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography, is currently serving an effective life sentence (he is 61, with over 50 years left on his sentence) in prison, where he is said to be serving a hard time.
Nassar’s actions in themselves are appalling enough, and the unscrupulous doctor has been brought to justice in relative terms.
But the story of how Nassar was able to run amok for so long remains … and some rather prominent voices (such as Team USA’s superstar gymnast Simone Biles) put some of the blame on the FBI.
Biles and her fellow critics were vindicated by the July 2021 FBI report mentioned above, but this new audit claims that the FBI has not improved in the years following the Nassar incident.
CNN translated the findings of the lengthy audit as follows: “The FBI continues to deny allegations of child sexual abuse for years after the bureau’s famous investigation into the investigation into USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.”
The outlet added: “Due to these failures, allegations of sexual abuse against children were left for months while minors continued to be victims, the audit found.”
Indeed, the audit itself provides several specific examples of FBI failure.
“In December 2021, the FBI received an allegation through the National Threat Operations Center (NTOC) regarding a historical incident involving the subject – a registered sex offender – engaging in sexual activity with a minor victim who was traveling across state lines,” the audit said. noted. “The victim, who was an adult at the time of reporting, said the subject may have lured other minor victims. In response to this tip, the FBI field office opened a full investigation into the matter about 2 weeks later.
“In January 2022, the FBI field office that opened the investigation set up a lead to a second field office that requested an interview with the victim, but we found no evidence that the victim was interviewed or offered victim services.
“At the time of review, the most recent substantive investigative activity documented in the case file was more than 7 months old and was documented in August 2022.
“We do not recognize referrals to SLTT law enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction or subject probationary officers.”
Worse still, after the incident was flagged, the FBI acted “more than 1 year after receiving the allegation” to gather more incriminating evidence against the subject.
Another example of the FBI’s prolonged inaction occurred when an audit documented an incident in May 2022.
“In May 2022, NTOC received an anonymous complaint about sex trafficking of unidentified minors and drug trafficking by an identified subject.31 NTOC forwarded this complaint to the appropriate FBI field office, but we found no evidence of verbal contact between NTOC and the FBI field office. , as required by FBI policy,” the audit noted. “Despite the allegations of child sex trafficking, the first investigative activity documented in the case file by the FBI field office provided that the complaint was completed approximately 5 and 8 months after receiving the allegations.”
But another example provided by the audit noted that a separate investigation was “put on a pending inactive status” and did not include appropriate references.
The audit suggested several improvements and solutions.
This article first appeared in The Western Journal.
