WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Lisa Murkowski has contacted the US Department of Justice (DOJ), calling for an “objective, thorough and independent investigation” to determine why the federal government is declining to prosecute Bill Allen over allegations he transported Paula Roberds across state lines for immoral and exploitive purposes. In a letter, Murkowski also asked two DOJ independent investigating offices to look into why the Justice Department halted the State of Alaska’s efforts to prosecute Allen for violations of Federal law.

In March 2011, Murkowski questioned the Attorney General about the Allen matter when he appeared before a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee. As he had done in the past, AG Eric Holder declined to provide specifics but firmly asserted, “If a case can be made, a case will be brought.” (Video above) That statement conflicts with reports in the media from DOJ officials to the Alaska Attorney General’s office that Allen would not be prosecuted in the Roberds matter because he “had been convicted and sentenced on another crime.”

In a letter to the Acting Inspector General and the Counsel for Professional Responsibility, the Senator wrote she is “no longer able to defer to the Attorney General’s representation that the Justice Department’s decision not to prosecute Mr. Allen on charges involving Ms. Roberds was firmly rooted in the Principles of Federal Prosecution.”

Senator Murkowski alluded to this in her letter, adding “I would like to believe that Department of Justice personnel followed applicable laws and departmental policies in its handling of the sex abuse allegations against Mr. Allen, just as US District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan expected the Justice Department would follow the law in its decisions whether to release potentially exculpatory evidence to Senator Stevens’ defense team. However, we now know that the Justice Department did not live up to its solemn constitutional responsibilities in the Stevens prosecution.”