Former gymnastics chief arrested in abuse scandal

Police arrested former USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny on Wednesday, adding another name to the list of accomplices to Dr. Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of hundreds of young gymnasts. Nassar is serving a sentence of at least 40 years in prison for molesting girls in Michigan under the guise of medical treatment. Penny, who resigned in 2017, was indicted in Walker County, Texas, on allegations of working to thwart a criminal investigation into abuse by Nassar at the world famous Karolyi Ranch in Huntsville. The ranch served as the training center for the U.S. national and Olympic gymnastics teams until January of this year, when USA Gymnastics dissociated with it during the sentencing phase of Nassar’s trial in Michigan. The indictment accuses Penny of ordering the removal of documents about Nassar from the Karolyi Ranch and having them delivered to him at USA Gymnastics headquarters in Indianapolis. The documents have never been recovered.

Nassar was charged in June with sexually assaulting six minors in Walker County. Prosecutors say Bela and Marta Karolyi, the famous Romanian coaches who transformed U.S. women’s gymnastics into an Olympic powerhouse, have not been implicated in the investigation.