WASHINGTON, 17 June 2006 — Anyone who knows New York City will not be surprised to learn there were cases of fraud and theft in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. What is surprising is that even when the authorities learned of the thefts, they sometimes didn’t go after the thieves.

And, the two whistle-blowers who reported the thefts were “rewarded” by being fired from their jobs, receiving death threats and being blackballed in the disaster relief industry. Dan L’Allier an emergency medical technician said he witnessed 45 tons of the New York loot being unloaded in Minnesota at his company’s headquarters. He and disaster specialist Chris Christopherson complained to a company executive, but were ordered to keep quiet. But they remained convinced their sacrifice was worth seeing justice done to the criminals. Now it appears they were wrong.

Once secret FBI documents obtained by The Associated Press show the FBI investigated how a company, Kieger Enterprises, KEI, of Lino Lakes, Minnesota, went unpublished for the Sept. 11, 2001 theft of 45 tons of donated water, clothing, tools and generators. The case was dropped after investigators also found that an FBI agent and other government officials had pilfered artifacts from Ground Zero.

As a result, most Americans were kept in the dark about a major fraud involving their donated goods even as new requests for charity emerged with disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

The government ultimately gave the whistle-blowers $30,000 each after expenses, their share in a civil settlement against KEI. They say the sum was hardly worth their trouble.

Federal prosecutors eventually charged KEI and some executives with fraud, including overbilling the government in several disasters, but excluded the Sept. 11 thefts.

AP reports that KEI worked for the government for years, providing disaster relief services during tornadoes, floods and other catastrophes. It was picked to manage the New York warehouse for the government’s main Sept. 11 relief contractor.

The lead investigators for the FBI and the Federal Emergency Management Agency told AP that the plan to prosecute KEI for those thefts stopped as soon as it became clear in late summer 2002 that an FBI agent in Minnesota had stolen a crystal globe from ground zero. That prompted a broader review that ultimately found 16 government employees, including a top FBI executive and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, had such artifacts from New York or the Pentagon. The government didn’t prosecute any of its employees for taking souvenirs, claiming it lacked a policy prohibiting such thefts.

Prosecutors “and the FBI were very conscious of the fact that if they proceeded in one direction, they would have to proceed in the other, which meant prosecuting FBI agents,” Jame Turner, the lead FBI agent, told reporters. She too became a whistle-blower alleging the bureau tried to fire her for bringing the stolen artifacts to light.

Turner retired in 2003. Ultimately, the FBI donated the stolen goods found at KEI’s warehouse to the Salvation Army.

Those who work near ground zero today are shocked to learn such thefts went unpunished. “To take advantage of people at a time of despair, it’s probably one of the worst things human beings can do to another person,” said Gregory Broms, Sr., a firefighter with Engine Company 10 at the foot of the former World Trade Center site. “It was morally wrong.”