Ex-FBI Leader in Albany Accused of Sexually Harassing Eight Employees – Was He a Chip off the Old Vanguard?

James N. Hendricks, former special agent-in-charge of the FBI Albany Field Office (Photo John Carl D'Annibale Times Union)

 

Bureau fails to publicly identify subject of investigation but Times Union does —

The great and lasting disgrace of the FBI in Albany is that they had the Nxivm criminals under their noses for 20 years committing crimes and did nothing – despite numerous people coming forward bringing them solid evidence.
Many thought it was that the office was corrupt and bought off with Bronfman money.
Another theory recently emerged: That the former head of the FBI for the Albany bureau was a man not dissimilar to the Vanguard himself in his proclivities and, therefore, would have been sympathetic to old Vanguard.  And, therefore, no wonder the FBI Albany Office was not interested in investigating the Albany sex cult Nxivm.
But a further investigation by Frank Report reveals that this randy FBI agent was not appointed to be in charge of the FBI Albany bureau until July 2018 – after Raniere was arrested.
Still, the sordid affair reveals a little of the less than flawless inside world of the FBI.
The great investigative reporter Brendan Lyons for the Times Union reports:
ALBANY — A former special agent in charge of the FBI’s Albany field office was the subject of a scathing internal investigation that found he sexually harassed eight subordinate employees and created a hostile work environment for another employee with whom he had an intimate relationship, according to a U.S. Justice Department investigation…[James N.] Hendricks, 50, left his job at the FBI earlier this year… the terms of his departure from the FBI are unclear. He was appointed head of the Albany field office in July 2018, after serving as a section chief for a Weapons of Mass Destruction unit at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The Justice Department’s report said the investigation began after an inspection revealed Albany’s special agent in charge had allegedly sexually harassed six employees in Albany, failed to report an intimate relationship with a subordinate employee, and harassed two more lower-ranking employees while in his prior position as a section chief at FBI headquarters…

Following the end of his intimate relationship with the employee in Albany, the report stated, Hendricks allegedly “engaged in actions… that created a hostile work environment for the subordinate, and lacked candor during the SAC’s interview with the OIG, all in violation of FBI policy…

Hendricks was a police officer in Henderson, Ky., before joining the FBI in 1998…   He later became a member of the Evidence Response Team that responded to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack at the Pentagon, where he served as a team leader of the FBI’s evidence recovery mission.

During his 22-year career in the FBI, Hendricks also worked as a supervisory special agent in the Cyber Division and at field offices in Atlanta, Ga., Lousiville, Ky., and Little Rock, Ark. He also led a counterterrorism team that investigated two subjects who had been part of attacks against coalition forces during the Iraq War, an effort that led to the team being awarded the FBI director’s award for Outstanding Terrorism Investigation.

End of Times Union excerpt. See complete story.

***

In fairness to Hendricks, he has not been proven guilty of anything yet, as far as I know.  He seems to have broken up with his subordinate FBI agent lover and made things a little hard on her/him afterwards, or so it is alleged.

Evidently there were others that complained too. Which makes it seem like he is guilty.  Before rushing to judgment, let me note that Hendricks was the newcomer to Albany – and the boss too – placed above other agents who were there longer than him.

The other agents probably knew each other for some time, and Hendricks comes in, becomes the boss over all of them and starts an affair with one of them.  In the end, his subordinates may have ganged up on him and ousted him.

In any event, Hendricks has quit the FBI and he tried to quit quietly but the Times Union outed him. {he was not named in the FBI report].

Hendricks, being chief, and having a lot of power, may have been a little like another kinky Albany-based leader, a man named Keith Alan Raniere, who was ultimately arrested thanks to the good work of the FBI in another district – the NYC office.

Those six or 7 who complained about Hendricks at FBI Albany probably had a lot of opportunities to arrest Raniere over the years but for some reason never bothered.

 

The whole affair shows that people will be people – and even FBI agents are people, not gods, not impeccable, not invincible or even more honest than anybody else. They just have more power – and power corrupts absolutely.

It is bizarre and foolish that society does not demand the same kind of scrutiny for FBI agents and federal prosecutors that they demand from any other public official including regular police.  We all agree that senators, presidents and local police need watchdogs but rarely is it ever discussed that the much more powerful prosecutors [they can steal someone’s liberty at will especially if he is poor] and federal agents need to be heavily scrutinized.

They rarely are. There are not checks in balances for the feds. Meantime they are promoted based on how many people they imprison, and it is becoming increasingly clear that that includes many innocent [poor] people.

Only once in a while does someone like Hendricks get a kick in the ass. Usually they get away with it and a lot more.

 

 

 

 

 

About the author

Frank Parlato

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  • This is the man who met my daughter 3 wks prior and the night before she was abducted. He was FBI Blue Grass Ark., when he came to my home denying he had met Heather the night before. The FBI files even state, ‘Heather’s last known whereabouts as being from a ‘public boat ramp’. This is NOT Newburgh Beach. KSP Post 16 Henderson, sent Heather’s bathing suit bottoms and her towel in for DNA testing after 27 years.

  • We just need to stop thinking that anyone who wears a badge is an automatic ‘good guy,’ That’s not easy, everybody’s looking for a “hero“ unless and until we find one in ourselves.

  • This is an important article and not one of you has anything to say or ask?

    ….And bozo pseudo-intellectuals have the gall too complain constantly that the Frank Report does not publish serious news worthy stories.

    • There’s bad apples in every organization, just like there are people who say they will come on Scott’s show and then back out. LOL

    • There is a lot more to this story.
      Hendricks was railroaded because he wanted to make FBI Albany follow the rules. There is the FBI way and there is the FBI Albany way. Too many loyalists to AV hidden in the office. They were not gonna let the previous SAC’s image be tarnished by Hendricks exposing the FBI Albany way.

      • There is a lot more to ‘his story’ for sure. He was seen at parties with my daughter before she was abducted in broad daylight with KSP right there on Newburgh Beach, August 26, 1995. He denied having met Heather the night before on Hayes Boat Ramp, Henderson, KY., even though his boss said it was the night before. He took ‘sick days’ after Heather’s abduction, and the night Marty Dill was killed.

About the Author

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist.

His work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like The New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, The Times of London, CBS Inside Edition, among many others in all five continents.

His work to expose and take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg, “Scarred” by Sarah Edmonson, “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. La Secta Que Sedujo al Poder en México” by Juan Alberto Vasquez.

Parlato has been prominently featured on HBO’s docuseries “The Vow” and was the lead investigator and coordinating producer for Investigation Discovery’s “The Lost Women of NXIVM.” Parlato was also credited in the Starz docuseries "Seduced" for saving 'slave' women from being branded and escaping the sex-slave cult known as DOS.

Additionally, Parlato’s coverage of the group OneTaste, starting in 2018, helped spark an FBI investigation, which led to indictments of two of its leaders in 2023.

Parlato appeared on the Nancy Grace Show, Beyond the Headlines with Gretchen Carlson, Dr. Oz, American Greed, Dateline NBC, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, where Parlato conducted the first-ever interview with Keith Raniere after his arrest. This was ironic, as many credit Parlato as one of the primary architects of his arrest and the cratering of the cult he founded.

Parlato is a consulting producer and appears in TNT's The Heiress and the Sex Cult, which premiered on May 22, 2022. Most recently, he consulted and appeared on Tubi's "Branded and Brainwashed: Inside NXIVM," which aired January, 2023.

IMDb — Frank Parlato

Contact Frank with tips or for help.
Phone / Text: (305) 783-7083
Email: frankparlato@gmail.com

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