WASHINGTON
A Turkish physicist who vanished after revealing labor abuses and hazardous conditions at a prominent U.S. federal lab has been located at a detention facility in New York state, following a search aided by Turkish diplomats.
Furkan Dölek was found at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility on Wednesday, reports indicated, after he went missing for about a week.
Dölek’s ordeal began after completing his PhD in Switzerland while working at CERN, the world’s leading particle physics center. In 2023, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) invited him to continue research, which included projects at Fermilab, a U.S. Department of Energy lab in Chicago housing the second-largest particle collider globally at 6.2 kilometers long.
Driven by ethical duties, Dölek reported irregularities, including employee exposure to radioactivity, unsafe conditions, and security flaws during his tenure.He faced harassment and was ultimately dismissed from Fermilab.
Dölek detailed his experiences on LinkedIn, describing “exploited researchers forced to work under unsafe conditions,” unprotected vulnerable staff, covered-up misconduct, and retaliation against whistleblowers.
He shared a video of himself operating a crane—without safety training—to handle a 300,000-volt feedthrough from cryogenic equipment, far exceeding household voltage.
Despite leading the experiment, he claimed payment only as labor, not for scientific input.
“I reported it through every official whistleblower channel. Instead of protection, I was punished: false charges, dismissal, and total institutional silence,” Dölek wrote.
“If a CERN scientist with diplomatic credentials and documented protections can be silenced, then any researcher, anywhere, can be.”
U.S. federal law mandates anonymity and protection for whistleblowers, but Dölek said this was not upheld in his case.
His J-1 research visa was revoked in March after Virginia Tech suspended his employment on April 12, 2024, leaving him without an exit document and in illegal status. Authorities confiscated his belongings, including a French residence permit at Fermilab.
“I contacted the U.S. Department of State to formally report that my J-1 sponsor has refused to respond to multiple good-faith attempts to resolve my situation,” Dölek posted, insisting his overstay was “sponsor-induced, not voluntary.”
Before the visa freeze, he accused Virginia Tech of illegally blocking his salary. After 141 days undocumented, Dölek recounted multiple calls to the J-1 hotline, claiming deception about his case status.
With no legal options left, Dölek announced a protest walk from Chicago to Canada via New York, framing it as a documented stand against the system rather than illegal entry.
“Now, in a political climate that celebrates deportations and silences immigrants, there is no legal pathway left for me. I’m forced to move constantly, with no permanent place to stay, simply because I told the truth,” he wrote.
He was detained by police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the Mohawk reservation near the New York-Canada border.
Fermilab has faced ongoing turmoil since 2021, including Director Nigel Lockyer’s resignation and leadership churn. A January 2024 Nature article highlighted its uncertain future due to poor Department of Energy evaluations.
James Decker, a former DOE official, called the 2021 performance review “one of the most scathing I have seen.”
Safety issues surfaced prominently: In May 2023, a contractor fell 23 feet at the PIP-II site, suffering severe injuries in a preventable incident, per Chicago Tribune reports.
This delayed key projects and prompted accelerator shutdowns.Financial woes included budget hikes offset by unchecked hiring, leading to furloughs and 53 layoffs via email, as reported by WTTW.
Auditors criticized procurement and fund management.
A July 2024 whistleblower report alleged sexual assault cover-ups, workplace violence, safety violations, and retaliation.
One case involved physicist Christopher Backhouse, accused of harassing a researcher via fake social media accounts, leading to a U.K. court awarding £50,000 in damages.
Fermilab Director Lia Merminga reportedly dismissed staff concerns, urging them to “stop whining.”
The DOE rebidded the lab’s management contract due to leadership and financial failures. The new operator, Fermi Forward Discovery Group, assumed control in January, but retained much of the prior team.
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