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Whistleblower Issues Statement on Penn State Child Abuse Scandal |
Washington, D.C. November 11, 2011. Today, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) whistleblower Jane Turner issued a statement on the Penn State child sex abuse scandal. Ms. Turner, a 25-year veteran Agent, blew the whistle on the FBI's failure to provide protection for child sex crime victims on the North Dakota Indian Reservations. Ms. Turner reported the allegations to the highest level of the FBI, including Director Mueller. Her allegations included the FBI's: failure to act on leads concerning a international long haul truck driver pedophile, cover-up of a rape of a 2-year old child by declaring her injuries to be a result of a car accident, and failure to follow-up on the direct evidence that a television personality was sexually molesting children on the Indian Reservation.
In retaliation for exposing FBI failures within its child crime program,
Ms. Turner was removed from her position. She was forced to wage a
10-year legal battle to establish her right to blow the whistle. Ms.
Turner eventually won her case in front of a federal jury in
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Jane Turner issued the following statement:
Unfortunately, I witnessed first-hand the institutional inaction that
often happens when someone reports child abuse. It takes enormous
strength to put one's moral integrity over your personal inclination to
protect fellow colleagues who have committed malfeasance, or criminal
activity. The FBI, like Penn State and the Catholic Church, are
entities that allows their personnel to report allegations up a chain of
command but those in positions of power or change, fail to take
immediate or strong actions. It simply boils down to the fact that
those in power have a stronger desire to preserve the reputation of
their institution, then taking the road of truth or justice. Entities
like Penn State, the Catholic Church and the FBI all share something in
common; they operate in an insular world where rules or laws that apply
to everyone else, do not apply to them.
NWC Executive Director Stephen M. Kohn stated:
It is tragedy that it took Jane 10-years to establish her right to blow
the whistle on brutal child abuse. Sadly the retaliation she faced is
very similar to what most other whistleblowers experience, especially
when the molester is an otherwise respected member of the community.
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Tags: Jane Turner
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