FBI agents investigated for ‘lack of candor’ in standoff case

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A new court filing says FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita and several colleagues on the bureau’s elite Hostage Rescue Team are under investigation for alleged “lack of candor” in their statements after the 2016 shooting of refuge occupation leader Robert “LaVoy” Finicum.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the agents are the subject of an ongoing administrative investigation and review by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General.

Astarita was among FBI agents and state police trying to arrest leaders of the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as they drove to a community meeting in January 2016.

While Justice Department officials have said the agents would be investigated for alleged misconduct, the legal brief that prosecutors wrote mentions for the first time that the inquiry regards alleged “lack of candor.”

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Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com