Former USA Gymnastics CEO Steven Penny Indicted, Arrested For Tampering With Evidence In Larry Nassar Case

Former USA Gymnastics president and CEO Steve Penny has been arrested after a grand jury indicted him for tampering with evidence related to the investigation into years of sexual abuse of athletes by former national team doctor Larry Nassar, according to officials in Walker County, Texas. He was indicted by a Walker County grand jury on one count of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony, and arrested Wednesday in Gatlinburg, Tenn., according to a press release from the Walker County District Attorney’s Office.

The press release went on to say that Penny had ordered documents from the Karolyi Ranch be removed and brought to USAG’s headquarters in Indianapolis—while Nassar was being investigated for sexual assault. The ranch was, until recently, where members of the USA Gymnastics women’s national team trained. The whereabouts of those documents, according to the press release, are still unknown.

The press release added:

“The removal of the documents was done for the purpose of impairing the ongoing investigation by destroying or hiding the documents.”

[...]

“The Texas Rangers and the detectives believe that those records are material to their investigation and that the removal of the records by Penny prevented them from reviewing documents that would have helped in their investigation of Nassar as well as assisted with the investigation of other offenses that may have occurred at the Karolyi ranch.”

Penny resigned from his position in March 2017, just a few weeks after another round of documents were unsealed by a Georgia court that showed just how little USAG had done when it received reports of possible sexual abuse by coaches.

The whole press release, as obtained by the Houston Chronicle, is below.