Years after its damning failure to investigate former U.S. Olympic doctor and serial sex predator Larry Nassar, the FBI still isn’t handling child sex crime reports properly, an inspector general said Thursday.
In roughly half the cases of sex abuse that came to the attention of the FBI from 2021 to early 2023, the bureau failed to report it to local police and social services agencies.
In more than one-third of cases reviewed, the FBI didn’t offer the victims services.
When tips did come in, the FBI didn’t follow up fast enough, the audit found.
The inspector general flagged 42 cases, or 13% of the ones it probed, for an immediate review by FBI’s headquarters, saying they showed signs of not being properly investigated or had “substantial” violations of FBI policy.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz pointed to one case where the FBI was tipped to a “hands-on abuse” case by a registered sex offender. The bureau opened an investigation but “didn’t take appropriate investigative action for over a year,” nor did it refer the case to local law enforcement.
“During this period, the subject allegedly victimized at least one additional minor for a period of approximately 15 months,” Mr. Horowitz said.
He said the FBI finally took action after his office flagged the case.
The report was a follow-up to how the FBI acted after mishandling Nassar, who used his position as the doctor for American Olympic gymnasts to sexually assault at least 265 identified girls and women and likely many others. A judge in 2017 sentenced him to 60 years in federal prison. The next year he was sentenced to upward of 175 years in state prison.
The FBI was blamed for failing to take allegations about Nassar seriously.
After it received an allegation concerning three gymnasts in 2015, it interviewed just one of them, by phone. An inspector general’s audit found agents lied to cover up their behavior.
Nassar would go on to target more people until local police arrested him in 2016.
Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the new report shows the bureau hasn’t learned its lessons.
“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. It’s shameful that the FBI is continuing to fail victims,” he said.
He pointed to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray’s 2021 testimony that the Nassar handling was “inexcusable.”
“But it’s still happening,” Mr. Durbin said. He said he would hold a hearing later this year to explore the problems.
The FBI, in its official response to Thursday’s report, acknowledged “that further action is necessary.”
Michael D. Nordwall, the FBI’s executive assistant director, said most of the cases where the inspector general called for a headquarters review turned out not to need additional action. A “handful of cases” did require more steps, which Mr. Nordwall promised were taken this time.
He said the failures were referred for internal disciplinary reviews.
He said he’s also created a working group to try to figure out ways to manage the caseloads for agents who handle “heinous and grueling” child sex abuse cases.
“The FBI has no greater mission than to protect our nation’s children from harm,” Mr. Nordwall said.
Mr. Horowitz made 11 recommendations, including better data and tracking of case handling and better training for employees.
The FBI agreed with all 11 suggestions and has already completed fixes for two of them, the inspector general reported.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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