DOJ Won’t Prosecute Former Milwaukee FBI Office Director Despite Allegations Of Misconduct

The U.S. Department of Justice won’t prosecute the former director of the Milwaukee FBI office, though a report released this week from the federal Office of the Inspector General suggests that she acted improperly on multiple occasions.

The report says former Special Agent in Charge Teresa Carlson intimidated another agent, Mark Crider, when she pressured him to testify against a veteran of the war in Afghanistan from Oak Creek. The veteran, Justin Slaby, was appealing his dismissal from the FBI academy on the grounds that the agency cut him because they considered his missing hand a disability.

Crider ended up not testifying against Slaby, who won his suit and was reinstated.

Slaby’s attorney Kathy Butler said the report is important because it holds Carlson accountable for her conduct.

“No one should be in a law enforcement capacity and (be) breaking the law,” said Butler. “So when someone tries to do that, it needs to be called out so that other people will know where the organization stands on such serious misconduct.”

The report also includes allegations that there were communication problems between Carlson and the Oak Creek Police Department when the two agencies were investigating the shootings at the Sikh temple two years ago. Butler said that allegation only came to light after the lawsuit by the war veteran was complete — something that to her indicates whistleblowing can have a positive impact.

“If one person tells the truth about somebody like Carlson who is not behaving properly, then that’s encouraging others to come forward,” she said. “I thought that was a really good part of the story.”

Carlson has denied all the allegations and has given starkly different descriptions of what happened. She was transferred from her position in Milwaukee last summer to a deputy assistant director post in Washington, D.C.