The FBI stopped investigating a person who shared child pornography and expressed interest in having sex with a minor because of the bureau’s focus on the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, according to newly disclosed information.
An undercover FBI agent posing as the father of a 9-year-old boy was messaged by a person who said he was a 28-year-old man living in Virginia. The man said he wanted to travel to Washington to have sex with the 9-year-old and shared child porn videos with the undercover agent.
The FBI’s Washington Field Office was investigating the man in late 2020, identifying him through subpoenas as Brogan Welsh, according to a court filing by FBI task force detective Thomas Sullivan.
However, the probe was stopped after the Capitol breach.
“On January 6, 2021, FBI, Washington Field Office, this investigation was halted due to events that occurred at the United States Capitol Building that day,” Mr. Sullivan wrote in the filing.
Alaska Agents Step In
Agents in an investigation thought to be unrelated executed a search warrant on a phone on Aug. 4. They uncovered chats between two people expressing desire for sexual interactions with a minor.Agents discovered that one of the people was Mr. Welsh, who had moved to Anchorage, Alaska.
Warrants carried out on Mr. Welsh’s address in October revealed sex toys “consistent with the body size of an approximately 10-year-old boy” and clothing consistent with such a boy, including underwear, Mr. Sullivan said.
The probe showed that a 10-year-old boy was residing at the same residence.
Mr. Welsh was charged with distribution of child pornography. He faces at least five years, and up to 20 years, in prison if convicted.
Agents said he admitted using the application that they'd found was used for the chats, and that he was attracted to teenagers.
FBI Statement
Former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin told The Epoch Times via email: “There are a finite number of FBI agents and an even smaller number of them doing actual investigative work. The opportunity cost of assigning so many agents to focus on the politically motivated narrative of January 6, 2021, is the FBI will fail to investigate white collar fraud, computer crimes, real terrorist plots, and violent crimes against children.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the new information “should be grounds for removal of every single FBI official, agent, employee involved in allowing a child predator to go free in order to target Jan 6th protesters.”
The FBI’s Washington Field Office (WFO) was asked about halting the investigation into Mr. Welsh.
“In the immediate aftermath of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, WFO resources were surged to support the FBI’s response and investigation. However, WFO continued to diligently pursue its ongoing investigations,” a spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.
“While we can’t speak to the specific circumstances of this case, the FBI takes all crimes against children investigations extremely seriously, and we must follow the facts where they lead and collect enough evidence to pursue prosecution.”
“The whistleblower disclosed that the FBI is sacrificing its other important federal law-enforcement duties to pursue January 6 investigations,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the chairman of the committee, wrote in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed under President Donald Trump. “The whistleblower recalled, for example, being ’told that child sexual abuse material investigations were no longer an FBI priority and should be referred to local law enforcement agencies.'”
