Last Thursday Reuters reported that Pima County Sheriff Chis Nanos was denying the FBI access to key DNA evidence in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case. Specifically, he chose to use a private lab, rather than the FBI forensics lab at Quantico, to analyze the glove investigators recovered. The implication of the news was that Sheriff Nanos was impeding the investigation to play petty political games.
But the investigation of the Guthrie kidnapping is not a sanctuary county response to an ICE surge. There is no political upside for the Sheriff in slowing an investigation of a missing elderly woman, whose life is certainly at risk.
Sheriff Nanos responded with a statement that he was using a private lab, because it had been engaged on the case before the FBI had been mobilized. Hence, the private Florida lab could provide quicker turnaround of findings.
Let me say up front that what I don’t know if what we are seeing in Pima County is incompetence, corruption, a jurisdictional pissing contest, a simple choice of expedience, or something else. What we may be seeing is what lost FBI credibility looks like in practice. What if Sheriff Nanos isn’t stupidly impeding the investigation, but thoughtfully protecting it?
Without even Googling the question, my limited septuagenarian memory recalls a litany of FBI screw ups, going back decades:
- The Whitey Bulger coverup.
- The Atlanta Olympics bombing.
- The anthrax scare.
- The Governor Whitmer kidnapping.
- The Olympic Gymnastics sexual assault.
- The Clinton email server.
- The Russian collusion hoax.
- The January 6 pipe bomber.
- The Seth Rich murder.
- And on, and on, and on.
The FBI’s forensics lab hasn’t been immune from the bureau’s lapses in professionalism either. Even the science guys have misrepresented hair analysis, miscalculated DNA analysis, and misinterpreted finger prints. Hundreds of cases have been affected. One person was even executed after faulty microscopic hair analysis contributed to his conviction.
I know nothing about Sheriff Nanos personally or professionally. But perhaps we should cut him some slack for accepting help from the feds with a bit of caution.
In an American Free News Network article a few years ago, I warned that the FBI cannot function effectively without the trust it was recklessly squandering. The point of the essay was that without the trust of citizens, witnesses, local law enforcement, and judges, the bureau wouldn’t be able to perform its duties.
Perhaps Pima County is what lost trust looks like. A local Sheriff is tasked with solving a horrible crime while also wrestling with whether the FBI is a help or a hindrance.
Director Patel is doing yeoman’s work addressing the broken culture of the FBI. Dozens of former agents are now working mall security rather than pledging allegiance to BLM, or entrapping homeless dimwits in Michigan. But he has only had a year to excise rot which has been festering for decades – under the leaderships of Louis Freeh, Robert Mueller, James Comey, and Chris Wray. That’s 30 years of deviation from fidelity, bravery, and especially integrity. The FBI culture is not what it used to be, and there are still plenty of bad actors embedded in the massive bureaucracy of the FBI.
As Sheriff Nanos tries to find Nancy Guthrie and deliver justice, he must also be concerned that the FBI may
- Slow the investigation by focusing on the wrong person – as it did with Richard Jewel,
- Entrap an innocent man – as it did with Micheal Flynn,
- Ignore critical evidence – as it did with the Clinton email server,
- Hide evidence – as it did when burn bags of evidence were hidden, or even
- Taint evidence – as it did when it damaged the revolver from the Rust movie set.
I don’t envy Sheriff Nanos. He must solve a case under a national spotlight, while using investigatory resources whose trustworthiness is questionable. It must be quiet a tightrope he’s walking.
Clearly, I don’t know what the rationale is for Sheriff Nano’s decisions. But I do know that the bureau has given him ample reason to use their services with caution.
Author Bio: John Green is a retired engineer and political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He spent his career designing complex defense systems, developing high performance organizations, and doing corporate strategic planning. He is a contributor to American Thinker, The American Spectator, and the American Free News Network. He can be reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.
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