False "FBI" report

[Grrlcheeze]

What is the name of your state? Michigan

Over the summer, my teenage children ran away and went with someone who had been giving them large amounts of cash; grooming them. The local police would not assist in helping me find my children and it was suggested the local FBI office be contacted.

Less than 12 hours later, the FBI agents had successfully found my children and had me meet them at the local library. When I arrived, the agents would not allow me to leave with my children, holding us in the basement of the library until closing. It was not until I contacted the local police department that I was finally allowed to leave with my children and take them to a local hospital to he checked out.

The agents followed us to the hospital and acted as though I had done something wrong by having my children come home and get checked after being found. The kids were teenagers and not very happy to be home, as I do not have thousands of dollars in cash to bestow upon them. The attitudes of these agents had hospital officials under the pretense that I had done something wrong, and their behavior toward me was not one of a mother finally finding her runaway children and having them checked out due to concerns. The FBI agents wanted me to have my kids go to a runaway shelter instead of bringing them home. This made no sense to me whatsoever nor does it to this day.

I filed a complaint with the appropriate office regarding this situation, but never heard anything else regarding it.

A month following this incident, my son violently attacked me and ran away to the same individual. I filed a runaway report. Less than six months following this, I was charged with domestic violence and served 28 days in jail. I had no criminal history prior to this incident. In the police report, it stated there was an FBI file on me stating that I was abusing my children and using illegal drugs. Neither is true. When I asked to read this report, it was eventually uncovered that it never existed. The agent who I filed the complaint under had made these slanderous statements about me to the police, who then used this false information toward their investigation as well as the judge who gave me the sentence. During the proceedings, I explained to the judge that this document did not exist, nor were these statements true. Though no one has ever able to procure this file, no one believed me that it did not exist.

What can I do to clear my name? I am certainly no Donald Trump, but after going through this situation personally I am very well aware of how unethical some of these agents are. It is a shame because there are so many good individuals who work in law enforcement who are affected by this behavior.

 

[FlyingRon]

Your rights to see the files are determined by the Privacy Act.

Note that the FBI communicating information to the police is not going to be actionable. Even if the FBI improperly reported you as an abuser or criminal to the public, it would be very hard to take action against them. You may remember the case of Richard Jewell (now a recent major movie release). Even though the FBI admitted they were wrong, there was no action against the FBI. Jewell sued many of the news outlets for repeating the leaked investigation. He never won any of those suits (though several settled without admissions). The one that went to trial, with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was decided against him.

 

[commentator]

It appears that you, like the person you mention, have been watching a lot of FOX TV. But dollars to donuts, there's no grand false conspiracy against you. The FBI is a little busy for this, and there would be no kind of payoff for anyone to falsely accuse you. This was not a major crime reported in all the media as in the mentioned case above.

And why would you need your name cleared at this point? From the sound of this, your charges and your sentence, etc. have already come and gone. So you were tried and sentenced and on the basis of a report that never existed. But you did serve 28 days in jail. And this was how long ago? Very recently? In any case, as soon as your teenagers are old enough, they're going to be going where they want to anyway. Was this other person a family member or relative or person they were in a relationship with? Where did they go while you were incarcerated?

 

[Grrlcheeze]

Your rights to see the files are determined by the Privacy Act.

Note that the FBI communicating information to the police is not going to be actionable. Even if the FBI improperly reported you as an abuser or criminal to the public, it would be very hard to take action against them. You may remember the case of Richard Jewell (now a recent major movie release). Even though the FBI admitted they were wrong, there was no action against the FBI. Jewell sued many of the news outlets for repeating the leaked investigation. He never won any of those suits (though several settled without admissions). The one that went to trial, with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was decided against him.

Thank you so much for your response. I am not familiar with the Jewell situation. I know that when I spoke with the more senior agent when filing the complaint, I was told that no citizen is allowed to have information compiled during an investigation, or even have notice of an investigation being conducted upon them.

How is this constitutional? Have all these privacy laws and innocent until proven guilty platforms completely eroded due to the Patriot act? What can a citizen do to protect themselves and their reputation?

 

[Grrlcheeze]

It appears that you, like the person you mention, have been watching a lot of FOX TV. But dollars to donuts, there's no grand false conspiracy against you. The FBI is a little busy for this, and there would be no kind of payoff for anyone to falsely accuse you. This was not a major crime reported in all the media as in the mentioned case above.

And why would you need your name cleared at this point? From the sound of this, your charges and your sentence, etc. have already come and gone. So you were tried and sentenced and on the basis of a report that never existed. But you did serve 28 days in jail. And this was how long ago? Very recently? In any case, as soon as your teenagers are old enough, they're going to be going where they want to anyway. Was this other person a family member or relative or person they were in a relationship with? Where did they go while you were incarcerated?

Thank you for your response.

 

[cbg]

https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/under-color-of-law-violations.658138/#post-3677854

 

[Grrlcheeze]

It appears that you, like the person you mention, have been watching a lot of FOX TV. But dollars to donuts, there's no grand false conspiracy against you. The FBI is a little busy for this, and there would be no kind of payoff for anyone to falsely accuse you. This was not a major crime reported in all the media as in the mentioned case above.

And why would you need your name cleared at this point? From the sound of this, your charges and your sentence, etc. have already come and gone. So you were tried and sentenced and on the basis of a report that never existed. But you did serve 28 days in jail. And this was how long ago? Very recently? In any case, as soon as your teenagers are old enough, they're going to be going where they want to anyway. Was this other person a family member or relative or person they were in a relationship with? Where did they go while you were incarcerated?

Prior to going through this, I would have completely agreed with your assessment and waited for the "mayor of crazytown" making the allegations to provide a cheap means of online entertainment involving troll battles.

I would like my name cleared because I am innocent of what I was accused, charged, and sentenced for. This smear on my name and record affects future employment and the manner in which different individuals with whom I have to begrudgingly interact with, respond and their treatment and assessment of me.

I would like this investigated and handled because agents, like cops, have a great deal of authority and oftentimes their opinion and words go unquestioned in given situations. I was incarcerated for almost a month for a crime that I did not commit on the slanderous words of an agent who literally made these allegations up.

I learned a long time ago that it is beyond my pay grade to assume what another individual's motives may be in some situations. For all I know, she accepted a payment.

Just making a comment like the last one can have serious implications. There may be people bristling at the audacity I have to say such things upon reading it, and this is on an online forum under relative anonymity. These claims have made a huge impact on my life- including my children being relatively "gifted" to a wealthy, sociopathic pederast, who has not had to answer for the damage he has done or the abuse reigned down on my family. He is of no relation whatsoever to my family, but unfortunately because of his financial status, that did not matter, and the devastating effect it has had on my family continues.

I don't know how asking whether or not an FBI agent can be held accountable for making false statements against an individual that led to charges and jail time equates to watching a particular channel on television, and the Trump reference I made was not intended to be political. Is there a difference in what the truth is when there is more media coverage?

Unfortunately, in our country, that may very well be so. In my situation I am simply trying to effectively handle this. Originally I was going to simply thank you for your response, regardless of the flippant and sarcastic manner in which it was given. You are not the first to jump to the conclusions you stated. Perhaps in this response a little more clarity can be provided to you as to the reasons someone would want to have their name cleared of false charges and allegations. My delivery here is not one of anger, if anything it is given with sadness. If you have anything constructive you would want to add re where I can find any laws, statutes, or even "watchdog" agencies that can assist me, I greatly appreciate it. Thanx again for your time.

 

[Edgar 1776]

I don't see the connection from the FBI report to the conviction of domestic Violence. For the police/city persecutor to introduce this document it would have to come in through a witness who wrote it and had first hand knowledge of the events (the FBI agent himself) as the document by itself would be hearsay. I think you are leaving parts of the story out.

 

[Grrlcheeze]

I don't see the connection from the FBI report to the conviction of domestic Violence. For the police/city persecutor to introduce this document it would have to come in through a witness who wrote it and had first hand knowledge of the events (the FBI agent himself) as the document by itself would be hearsay. I think you are leaving parts of the story out.

I thought the same standard was required. To the best of my knowledge there was no evidence aside from the police report, which had the statement about the so called FBI report.

If there is something I am able to clarify I certainly will,but I don't know what you are looking for. In this case a statement was read by the prosecution allegedly wrotten by my son that had nothing to do with the situation whatsoever, nor was I given an opportunity to respond. The facts themselves of the letter were not even brought into question. I dont know if domestic violence laws in my state have expanded so far that there is not even a standard for burden of proof- but in my case it was not applied.

Though the charges are not felonious, is there a way to have the case re-heard in order to get it thrown out? Or submitted to another judge that requires evidence prior to conviction?

 

[cbg]

I'm going to hate myself for asking this but, who is the person your children were with? Their father? Another family member? A friend of the family? A complete stranger? A school friends' family? Who?

 

[Edgar 1776]

A prosecutor cannot just read a police report into the record as evidence at a trial. Not only is a police report hearsay, the only way it can come in as evidence is if a witness takes the stand and a foundation is given as to the document by someone with personal knowledge of the events.

 

[stealth2]

I'm wondering where your lawyer was in the midst of all this intrigue...

 

[NeilTheCop]

I'm wondering where your lawyer was in the midst of all this intrigue...

I was wondering why the FBI were involved in a teenager runaway case.

 

[LdiJ]

I'm going to hate myself for asking this but, who is the person your children were with? Their father? Another family member? A friend of the family? A complete stranger? A school friends' family? Who?

In post number 7 the OP said that the individual was of no relationships whatsoever to the OP's family, so its got to be either a friend of the family, a school friend's family or a complete stranger.

 

[Just Blue]

In post number 7 the OP said that the individual was of no relationships whatsoever to the OP's family, so its got to be either a friend of the family, a school friend's family or a complete stranger.

Did you read the posting history? OP also stated that the individual was a "sociopathic pederast".