Watchdog finds FBI fell short on child sexual abuse allegations
WASHINGTON — A watchdog report released Thursday found the FBI fell short in responding to tips of hands-on sex offenses against kids, even though the bureau took corrective measures following the Larry Nassar scandal.
The Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General did the review to follow up on a 2021 report that concluded the agency had mishandled sexual abuse allegations against Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics physician who was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison on charges related to the sexual abuse of minors.
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Senate Judiciary Chair Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., announced the panel would hold a hearing later this year on the FBI’s handling of child sexual abuse, saying “it’s shameful that the FBI is continuing to fail victims.”
“Today’s report shows that new policies implemented by the FBI to address these egregious failures are effectively being ignored, leading to similar abuses as seen in the Nassar investigation,” Durbin said.
The watchdog office reviewed 327 incidents that involved hands-on sex offenses against a kid, but in 47 percent of the incidents found no evidence that FBI employees followed mandatory reporting requirements to state and local law enforcement.
The watchdog office also flagged 42 incidents for further FBI review because they thought the incidents “may require immediate attention.” The types of concerns included non-reporting to appropriate agencies, leads that were not properly covered and a lack of logical investigative steps or recent investigative activity.
In one example, the report referenced a case involving an allegation of hands-on abuse by a registered sex offender. But the FBI failed to take “appropriate investigative action” for more than a year or refer the suspected abuse to a state or local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction, according to the report.
“During this period, the subject allegedly victimized at least one additional minor for a period of approximately 15 months. After we raised this incident to the FBI’s attention, the FBI took appropriate action, and the subject was indicted on federal charges,” the report reads.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, in a video statement released with the report, said the FBI has implemented policy updates, training and system changes to better its handling of allegations related to crimes against children. But he said they found numerous instances “where the FBI didn’t appropriately respond to such allegations.”
“It’s critically important that the FBI appropriately handle all allegations of hands-on sex offenses against children, because failure to do so can result in children continuing to be abused and perpetrators abusing more children,” Horowitz said.
The FBI, in a response included in the report, said the agency recognizes “that further action is necessary to ensure our corrective measures have the full intended effect of improving the FBI’s handling of allegations of hands-on sex offenses.”
The Justice Department in April announced settlement agreements to resolve 139 claims for a total of $138.7 million related to Nassar. At that time, Durbin said the mishandling of sexual assault allegations against Nassar in 2015 and 2016 was unacceptable.
The 2021 watchdog report found that senior officials in the FBI Indianapolis field office failed to respond to the Nassar allegations “with the utmost seriousness and urgency that they deserved” and “made numerous and fundamental errors when they did respond to them.”
The Judiciary Committee held a hearing about the report that year, including testimony from Team USA gymnasts, and it prompted a bill that supporters say will improve how FBI child victim witnesses are treated.
