Inspector General Silent on DOJ Misconduct- A Refusal to Act?

April 12, 2025 – Salt Lake City, UT

Standing outside the U.S. District Court in downtown Salt Lake City, investigative journalist and constitutional rights advocate Matthew Oliver Reardon called out the U.S. Department of Justice’s top watchdog today in a blistering press conference. His charge: the DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has deliberately ignored a formal whistleblower complaint involving unlawful surveillance, civil rights violations, and federal retaliation against a journalist.

The complaint, submitted on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, was not Reardon’s first attempt to alert federal authorities. In fact, it was a brand-new, updated filing that incorporated additional declarations and evidence stemming from a previous OIG complaint submitted in early 2025—which also went completely unacknowledged.

“This isn’t negligence. This is institutional stonewalling,” Reardon declared. “The OIG was given hard evidence—sworn statements, supporting documentation, and a full timeline implicating DOJ-connected actors in surveillance and retaliation. And yet, I’ve received no case number, no confirmation of receipt, not even a single email response.”

According to Reardon, the complaint includes proof that protected federal data may have been unlawfully shared with local police in multiple jurisdictions, including in Utah and Mississippi. The results: doxxing, targeted enforcement actions, and a chilling effect on protected press activity.

The core allegations involve:

• Improper use of federal surveillance databases (such as NCIC, CJIS, or NLETS)

• Retaliation for lawful journalistic activity, including silent audits and public records investigations

• Cross-jurisdictional coordination between federal and local officials aimed at discrediting and silencing a journalist

On April 10, the day after the formal complaint was submitted, Reardon followed up with a second email—again, no response. Today, Reardon placed a direct call to the OIG’s public contact line, navigated the phone prompts to reach a live agent, and was sent to voicemail. Despite leaving a detailed message requesting a same-day response, there was no return call or follow-up.

“This is the Department of Justice’s internal watchdog,” Reardon said. “If this is how they treat whistleblower complaints from a journalist with documented constitutional violations, then how many other legitimate complaints are getting buried? Who else are they protecting?”

The implications go far beyond one individual’s case. Reardon says this silence from the OIG undermines public trust in government accountability mechanisms and raises serious concerns about institutional complicity.

“Their job is to investigate misconduct. Instead, they’re helping to conceal it. That makes the OIG part of the problem, not the solution,” Reardon added.

Reardon has now escalated the matter, preparing certified mail packets to the DOJ OIG, filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to uncover any internal handling of his complaint, and notifying Judicial Watch, the ACLU, and Congressional oversight bodies.

A formal press release and supporting documentation will be made public in the coming days. Reardon says the evidence is extensive and disturbing—and he won’t rest until it’s heard.

“If the government refuses to act, the people will,” he concluded. “This is what the First Amendment was made for. And I intend to use it.”