Air Force: Dozens of criminal histories unreported
FBI never got critical info
WASHINGTON — The Air Force said Tuesday that in addition to failing to alert the FBI to the criminal history of the former airman who massacred 26 people at a Texas church on Nov. 5, it has discovered “several dozen” other such reporting omissions.
This was the most specific acknowledgement by the Air Force that its failure to report Devin P. Kelley’s criminal history was part of a pattern of reporting lapses.
The cases that were not reported have since been presented to the FBI, Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said. She had no information on the time period covered. The Air Force inspector general is reviewing compliance with reporting requirements in 60,000 cases involving serious offenses dating to 2002.
In a written statement, the Air Force blamed gaps in “training and compliance measures” for the lapse involving Kelley, who had been convicted of assaulting his then-wife and stepson in 2012. The fingerprint card and the report on the outcome of his court martial were not submitted to the FBI by Air Force personnel at Kelley’s base in New Mexico. If reported, this information should have stopped him from buying weapons.
Kelley was sentenced to 12 months in confinement and given a bad conduct discharge. He left the Air Force in 2014.
The Air Force inspector general is undertaking an in-depth review of the service’s compliance with requirements to report certain criminal history information to the FBI for inclusion in databases used to conduct background checks of gun buyers. It is part of a broader Pentagon-wide review of compliance with these requirements.
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson has previously acknowledged that Kelley’s criminal history should have been reported to the FBI, but was not.
In its statement Tuesday, the Air Force said the reporting failure in the Kelley case was by Office of Special Investigation officials and Air Force security force personnel at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.
“The review also found the error in the Kelley case was not an isolated incident and similar reporting lapses occurred at other locations,” it said. “Although policies and procedures requiring reporting were in place, training and compliance measures were lacking.”
A family that lost eight relatives in the church killings filed an administrative claim with the Air Force alleging that the Air Force’s failure to report Kelley’s criminal history contributed to the massacre.