Penn State Urged to Avoid Tainted FBI Officials

Washington, D.C. November 22, 2011. Today, the NWC issued a letter calling for an independent investigation of child sex abuse cases that were mishandled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and FBI Director Robert Mueller. 

Additionally, the NWC called upon Penn State to ensure that former FBI agents involved in the misconduct in the handling of child sex crimes within the FBI are explicitly barred from any involvement in the Penn State investigation and that former Director Louis Freeh be questioned as to his knowledge of the FBI’s failures.

Former FBI Agent Jane Turner’s well-documented and highly credible allegations that the FBI did not properly act to protect young children from rape and sexual abuse on Native American reservations and in Minot, North Dakota, between 1998 and 2002 were never properly investigated by the FBI or the Department of Justice.

Ms. Turner was removed from her position as Senior Resident Agent in Minot, North Dakota, and subjected to harsh retaliation. Eventually, she won a retaliation lawsuit against the FBI for their actions to discredit her after her whistleblowing, but the FBI and DOJ took no action to fully investigate or correct the abuses she documented. Despite Ms. Turner’s repeated pleas on the children’s behalf, FBI Director Mueller has ignored the issue entirely.

Stephen M. Kohn, Executive Director of the National Whistleblowers Center, issued the following statement:
It is ironic that former FBI Director Freeh has been appointed to head the investigation into the child abuse scandal at Penn State when for years the FBI has failed to investigate its own botched attempts to prosecute child abuse cases.

Contact Information

Lindsey M. Williams

Director of Advocacy and Development

National Whistleblowers Center

(1) 202-342-1903

lmw@whistleblowers.org