Despite promising reforms after it mishandled the sexual abuse case against former U.S. gymnastic team doctor Larry Nassar three years ago, a Justice Department watchdog said in a report Thursday that the FBI has continued to fail in managing and investigating reports of sex offenses against children.
The report served as a follow-up to the DOJ Office of the Inspector General's July 2021 report, which detailed the FBI's failures in Nassar's case, including that its inaction over one year allowed the doctor to abuse 70 additional young athletes under the guise of medical treatment until his arrest.
In the new report, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz said that issues within the mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse, a lack of evidence processing and high caseloads among agents have continued to elevate the risk of victims falling through the cracks.
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Of the 3,925 child sexual abuse cases the FBI opened from Oct. 2021 through Feb. 2023, the DOJ OIG audit reviewed 327, and 42 were flagged to the FBI for its "immediate attention." The reasoning for these flaggings ranged from non-compliance with FBI policy to a lack of recent investigative activity or following up on leads.
In one case, the audit says the FBI failed to take appropriate action for over a year after receiving a sexual abuse allegation involving a registered sex offender. During that time period, the offender allegedly victimized another minor for 15 months until the auditors brought the incident to the FBI's attention, leading to the subject's indictment on federal charges.
In 47% of the incidents reviewed, the inspector general found no evidence that FBI employees complied with mandatory requirements to report child sexual abuse cases to state or local authorities. In 50% of those cases, none were reported to social service agencies.
And although there was a "substantial increase" in mandatory reports after the 2021 Nassar review, the auditors found only 43% of the reports were created within 24 hours of learning of the allegations. Plus, despite the FBI implementing a new computer system to manage and act upon tips within 24 hours, the auditors found 40% of active allegations did not include evidence that the federal body responded within the time frame.
The FBI acknowledged the errors laid out in the report and said a lack of resources affects employees' ability to respond to allegations, follow up on investigations and properly document cases within the proposed time frames. One agent told the inspector general they were assigned 60 pending investigations, which risks them "falling through the cracks."
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The inspector general said agents must "constantly triage their caseload," while urging the FBI to reevaluate agent workloads and increase employee training as part of the Crimes Against Children and Human Trafficking Program.
In conclusion, the report said the FBI must be more compliant with "mandatory reporting suspected child abuse, providing victim services, transferring incidents between field offices, self-approvals, and responding to allegations of active or ongoing child sexual abuse."
And despite the FBI arguing much of the criticism was because of documentation issues rather than investigative, it agreed with the inspector general's 11 recommendations to improve and has already taken corrective action on two, the report said.
"Ensuring the safety and security of children is not just a priority for the FBI; it is a solemn duty that we are committed to fulfilling with the highest standards," the FBI said in a statement. "The FBI's efforts combating crimes against children are among the most critical and demanding undertakings we do. The FBI deeply values the trust the public places in us to protect the most vulnerable members of society. We are committed to maintaining the public's trust by implementing the necessary improvements to ensure the important changes we made to our Violent Crimes Against Children program in 2018 and 2019 have the intended effect of promoting the highest level of compliance and effectiveness."
Still, the report is likely to draw more criticism of the FBI and its director, Christopher Wray, who said in 2021 that a case like Nassar's "never should have happened, and we are doing everything in our power to make sure it never happens again."
More than 150 women and girls have accused Nassar of sexual abuse while he was their physician. Nassar first pleaded guilty to charges related to the case in 2017 and will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
