Sexual Predators Hidden in Federal Witness Protection Program, Report Finds

[inanna]

Source: ABC News

Mar 11, 2015, 2:21 PM ET

The U.S. government’s Witness Protection Program provides new identities and new communities for federal witnesses who may be at risk.

But what if some of those protected witnesses are also sexual predators? And are their new communities informed?

The short answer: not usually. There are now at least four sex offenders in the program who have received a new name and a new home, “but the Department of Justice did not use adequate safeguards to protect and notify the public and law enforcement about the risk posed,” according to a new DOJ Inspector General report released today.

The Department of Justice Inspector General today released a scathing, and heavily redacted report, criticizing the Federal Witness Protection program for “not taking sufficient steps to mitigate threats posed” by sex offenders in the program, as well as sex offenders recently released from the program. Some of them even committed their crimes while in the program.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/sexual-predators-hidden-federal-witness-protection-program-report/story?id=29559093

[closeupready]

1. Great. How kudzu-like our federal bureaucracy has become.

[niyad]

2. I sure hope their information was worth it.

(on "in plain sight", mary shannon first refers to the program as the WITLESS protection service)

When the IG audit of Witness Protection began in July 2013, the report found, the Department of Justice didn’t even know how many sex offenders were in Witness Protection. Last year, DOJ identified 58 sex offenders who were in the program at some point.

Ten of those offenders were convicted of sexual offenses before they entered the program. Ten committed their crimes while in the program, and 38 were convicted of sex offenses when they were no longer in the program.

. . . .

[niyad]

3. some of the comments were quite disturbing.