Flaws Persist in F.B.I.’s Handling of Child Sex Abuse Cases, Watchdog Says

The Justice Department’s inspector general cited significant improvements even as he identified structural issues, like high caseloads, that continue to hamper progress.

Listen to this article · 5:10 min Learn more

Share full article
+

The gymnasts Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Maggie Nichols at a Senate hearing on the F.B.I.’s handling of the investigation of Larry Nassar in 2021.

The F.B.I. mishandled child sexual abuse allegations even after enacting new protocols since its bungled investigation into Lawrence G. Nassar’s assault of young gymnasts, the Justice Department’s watchdog found in a report released on Thursday.

Michael E. Horowitz, the department’s inspector general, found that 42 of 327 sexual abuse cases reviewed were plagued with serious problems — including a lack of coordination with local law enforcement and a failure to follow up on leads — that required immediate attention from the bureau.

In roughly half the cases reviewed in the audit, the inspector general found “no evidence” that the F.B.I.’s investigators reported instances of sexual abuse to local, state and tribal authorities. That failure to coordinate with other law enforcement agencies also contributed to the long delay of an investigation into Mr. Nassar by the bureau’s field offices in Los Angeles and Indianapolis, according to the report.

Even as young athletes started coming forward in the summer of 2015, Mr. Nassar, the former national gymnastics team doctor, was not arrested until late 2016. Mr. Nassar, abused at least 70 girls and women during that period. He is now in prison after molesting hundreds of his patients, including the Olympic champion Simone Biles, under the guise of medical treatment.

Mr. Horowitz noted in Thursday’s report that a child continued to be abused by an adult a year after a complaint was made to the bureau.

Senator Richard J. Durbin, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, in a statement on Thursday urged the bureau’s leaders to “answer for the inspector general’s grave findings” and said he would hold hearings this year to determine why they had not sufficiently improved their procedures.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.