The Department of Justice (DOJ) protected 58 sex offenders, including convicted child rapists, in its witness protection program, according to an audit by the agency’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).
Until 2012, the U.S. Marshals Service, which administers the Federal Witness Security (WITSEC) Program, had no idea how many sex offenders it had admitted into the program.
By July 2014, the DOJ identified 58 individuals, who “at some point in time, had been admitted into the WITSEC Program.” Participants in the program are given a new identity, place to live, and a government stipend for 18 months.
“We identified several significant concerns related to the Department’s handling of known sex offenders who were once in the Program,” the OIG said in an audit released Wednesday. “Ten of the 58 sex offenders formerly in the Program were convicted sex offenders at the time of their admission into the Program.”
