(Ken Silva, Headline USA) DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a shocking report Thursday on the FBI’s mishandling of child sex abuse cases—finding that the bureau botched dozens of cases, some so badly that they required immediate attention.
Horowitz’s report stems from a DOJ-OIG investigation launched into the FBI’s mishandling of sex abuse allegations against USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. While the FBI implemented numerous policy reforms in response to that scandal, Horowitz’s Thursday follow-up report found that the bureau isn’t following those policies.
According to Horowitz, the FBI opened 3,925 cases involving a hands-on sex offense against a child between Oct. 1, 2021, and Feb. 26, 2023. The DOJ-OIG reviewed 179 of those cases as well as 48 other complaints and 100 leads among FBI offices—and found that agents failed to follow proper guidelines in more than 50% of the reviewed incidents, and failed to fully document more than 80% of them.
And according to Horowitz, 42 of the cases were mishandled so badly that the DOJ-OIG flagged them for immediate attention.
The examples of FBI negligence are horrific.
In one case, the FBI opened an investigation into a registered sex offender that was allegedly abusing a child, but then let the case go dormant for over a year.
“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,” Horowitz said.
A DOJ-OIG audit found that the FBI has botched hundreds of child sex crime cases, some so badly that they required immediate attention.
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— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) August 29, 2024
In another example, the FBI received an anonymous complaint in May 2022 of sex trafficking of unknown minors. In that case, agents waited five months before taking their first investigative steps—and when they did, they found their subject was a convicted felon with access to children, according to Horowitz. The DOJ-OIG report didn’t disclose the outcome of that case.
In yet another example, the FBI received allegations in September 2022 that a convicted sex offender was trafficking minors.
The bureau promptly opened an investigation. But when the DOJ-OIG reviewed the case in September 2023, it found that agents found that no “substantive investigative activity” was undertaken, and that the most recent documentation added to the file was over 5 months old.
“In response to our concerns, the FBI stated that the original case agent was transferred and an administrative oversight had delayed the reassignment of the case. It also stated the FBI field office had reassigned the investigation and was conducting appropriate follow-up investigative activity,” Horowitz said, adding that the bureau hasn’t found any evidence of sex trafficking in that case.
The DOJ-OIG recommended the FBI implement a method to ensure that its agents and employees comply with the policy reforms enacted in the wake of the Nassar scandal. The FBI concurred.
For Rep. Dan Bishop, R-NC, the DOJ-OIG report is the latest evidence that the FBI has sacrificed legitimate casework in its zeal to target political dissidents.
“Something seems to be distracting the FBI from addressing child sexual assault tips in accordance with its standards,” Bishop said in a comment to Headline USA.
“What comes to mind for me is that the whistleblower Steven Friend was told to drop his child sex abuse caseload in order to monitor folks’ attendance at school board meetings and handle investigative tasks decreed from Washington against J6 suspects. This is another indication that political weaponization of the FBI has eroded its basic capabilities,” said Bishop, who’s running to be North Carolina’s next attorney general.
Bishop was referring to former FBI agent Steve Friend, whose first six years in the bureau were spent tackling crime on Indian reservations and investigating child sex abuse cases. Friend was reassigned from child sex crimes to Jan. 6 cases in September 2021.
Since he turned whistleblower in 2022, Friend has repeatedly accused the FBI of ignoring child sex abuse cases in favor of Jan. 6 prosecutions.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
