FBI still falling short in child sex abuse cases years after Larry Nassar scandal, watchdog finds

Washington — The FBI's handling of child sexual abuse investigations continues to fall short in key areas, years after the scandal involving U.S. gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar that rocked the bureau, an internal watchdog said in a new report issued Thursday.

The Justice Department's inspector general found that while the FBI has updated its policies and training to improve agents' response to allegations of sex offenses against children, noncompliance with the new rules persists. The audit is an outgrowth of the Justice Department's investigation into the FBI's mishandling of allegations from young gymnasts that Nassar was sexually abusing them.

In 2021, an inspector general report found that the FBI learned Nassar had been accused of molesting gymnasts in 2015, but failed to act, leaving him free to continue to target victims for months. Nassar is serving multiple lifelong prison sentences after pleading guilty to charges of sexual abuse and child pornography in 2017 and 2018.

In April, the Justice Department agreed to pay $138.7 million to settle 139 claims against the FBI for its handling of the investigation in a civil suit brought by Nassar's victims.

In the wake of the scandal, the FBI implemented new policies and training programs, and FBI leadership pledged policy overhauls. Speaking before Congress in 2021, FBI Director Christopher Wray condemned the agents' past handling of the Nassar allegations, saying, "On no planet is what happened in this case acceptable." Again in 2022, he told Congress the FBI would not make the same mistakes in the future.

In a statement issued Thursday, the FBI 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'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." 

The inspector general report

As part of the new report, federal auditors randomly selected 327 cases involving child sexual abuse between October 2021 and February 2023 and evaluated whether FBI agents and supervisors followed proper protocols to ensure the investigations were handled appropriately. 

According to the inspector general, 42 of those cases required immediate investigative action because of a lack of activity or reporting to local authorities as required. The FBI determined its agents needed more investigative work in 43% of those cases.

The inspector general highlighted one example in which the FBI received allegations of sexual abuse against a child by a registered sex offender but failed to investigate for more than a year. In that time period, according to the report, the offender was able to victimize another child. 

The audit also found deficiencies in FBI personnel reporting allegations of abuse to local law enforcement and social services within a required 24-hour window. 

"We found no evidence that FBI employees complied with mandatory reporting requirements to [state and local] law enforcement in 47 percent of incidents or to social service agencies in 50 percent of incidents," the report said. And if the agents actually filed a report, the inspector general found only 43% complied with the 24-hour requirement. 

One of the key deficiencies highlighted in the original Nassar report focused on the FBI Indianapolis Field Office's failure to properly transmit allegations to officials in a California field office for further investigation.

Thursday's inspector general report found that issues remain in how field offices transfer complaints during investigations. The Justice Department watchdog highlighted 26 cases in which field offices transferred information concerning child sex abuse cases.

"We found only one incident that was fully compliant with the new policy" that followed the Nassar probe, the report said. While 25 of those cases were identified as deficient due to errors in documentation and 21 were assigned in the recipient office within a 24-hour period, the report highlighted the need for further compliance with all measures to ensure proper investigative steps are followed. 

"While our audit found the FBI has implemented training, policy updates, and system changes to improve its handling of crimes against children allegations since the time it received the child sexual abuse allegations against Nassar, we identified incidents where we believe the FBI did not appropriately respond to allegations," the inspector general said. 

As is customary with inspector general reports, the watchdog issued 11 recommendations to the FBI, including developing ways to monitor compliance with mandatory reporting and procedures to ensure all child sex abuse reports are responded to within 24 hours.

The FBI agreed to resolve the recommendations and has fully updated procedures inside its National Threats Operation Center and field offices to handle allegations of abuse. But according to the inspector general's report, more work remains to be done.

Michael Nordwall, the FBI's executive assistant director, said in a letter that the FBI "took especially seriously" the inspector general's findings, adding the bureau "is updating our policies and procedures and enhancing controls to monitor the effectiveness of the improvements." 

Speaking with reporters Thursday, a senior FBI official acknowledged that mistakes were made in some cases, and said the bureau is working to combat sex crimes against children and improve compliance measures. 

In 2023, the FBI investigated 4,900 cases of child sexual abuse, located or rescued about 4,000 victims and prosecuted approximately 1,500 offenders, the official said. 

The official added that the spike in child sex abuse cases that the FBI investigates each year poses new challenges for personnel that they are working to address.

The inspector general's report highlighted this problem, describing one instance in which a single agent was assigned 60 investigations. "Multiple FBI officials told us that resources are a significant challenge," the report said. 

According to the audit, 15 of the FBI's field offices requested changes to their funding to increase the number of agents assigned to child abuse cases in 2023. "Only one of these requests, for one agent, was approved," the watchdog said. "Seven field offices appealed the decision to deny the realignment, but none of these appeals were successful." 

"It's critically important that the FBI appropriately handle allegations," Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Thursday. "Failure to do so can result in children continuing to be abused and perpetrators abusing more children." 

John Manly, an attorney who represents many of the Nassar victims, said the report "makes clear that the FBI is simply not doing its job when it comes to protecting our children from the monsters among us who stalk them."

"Despite years of promises and numerous Congressional hearings it's now clear that the Larry Nassar scandal could happen again today. It's time for Congress to take action to reform the FBI. Our children deserve nothing less," Manly said.