Former MSU gymnastics coach charged with lying to police about Larry Nassar allegations

Kara Berg | Lansing State Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Olympic gymnasts Madison Kocian and Kyla Ross accuse Larry Nassar of abuse Two more gold-medal winning Olympic gymnasts have come forward to claim they were sexually abused by convicted pedophile Larry Nassar.

LANSING, Mich. — Former Michigan State gymnastics coach Kathie Klages has been charged with lying to police about her knowledge of sexual assault complaints about Larry Nassar prior to 2016.

The charges, filed today in District Court, make Klages the second person charged as part of the Michigan Attorney General's Office investigation of Michigan State University's handling of reports about Nassar.

"Klages denied to Michigan State Police detectives having been told prior to 2016 of Nassar’s sexual misconduct," according to an AG's Office news release. "Witnesses have said that they reported Nassar’s sexual abuse to Klages dating back more than 20 years."

One of those people is Larissa Boyce, a former youth gymnast who said she told Klages about Nassar's abuse in 1997 when she was 16. Boyce said that Klages cautioned her and another gymnast from filing a formal complaint against Nassar, which Klages has denied. Boyce, who spoke at Nassar's sentencing hearings, declined to comment on Klages' charges.

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Klages is facing two counts of lying to a peace officer, one felony and one misdemeanor, the AG's Office said in its release. If convicted on the felony charge, she faces up to four years in prison. The misdemeanor charge carries a sentence of up to two years.

A $5,000 bond has been set and a warrant was issued for her arrest. Andrea Bitely, a spokeswoman for the AG's Office, said Klages attorney has been notified and she has until the end of the day Friday to turn herself in to police. Bitely declined to comment further.

A message was left seeking comment from Klages's attorney.

The AG's Office prosecuted Nassar in the state cases, securing 10 sexual assault convictions split between two counties. In January, amid the two sentencing hearings, the AG's Office announced an investigation of the university's handling of the Nassar matter.

In March, that investigation charged William Strampel, the former dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine and one of Nassar's former bosses, with a felony unrelated to Nassar and misdemeanor charges for his actions during and after Nassar's 2014 Title IX investigation. Strampel's case is now in Circuit Court.

Klages retired on Feb. 14, 2017, a day after the university suspended her amid growing criticism of the way she responded to concerns about Nassar in the past and the way she handled a team meeting after an Indianapolis Star story detailed two gymnast's allegations against Nassar. She had been the coach for 27 years.

Boyce is one of two women who have said in 1997 they told Klages what Nassar did. Boyce said in January during Nassar's Ingham County sentencing hearing that Klages "interrogated" her and the other girl.

Last year, the MSU police asked Klages about what Boyce had said.

"I have beat myself up trying to remember but I have no idea," she told police, according to a report the Lansing State Journal obtained through a public records request.

Boyce, who is now in her 30s, is one of the hundreds of women or girls suing MSU, Nassar or USA Gymnastics. All of those women say Nassar sexually assaulted them during medical appointments and that the organizations didn't do enough to protect them.

Nassar sexually abused hundreds of women and girls over more than 20 years, many of them at his MSU office. In May, MSU agreed to settle lawsuits filed by hundreds of those victims for $500 million.

Nassar pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. His federal appeal was denied Wednesday.

Nassar received two additional lengthy prison sentences in Ingham County and Eaton County. He also has filed appeals of those sentences. Both are still pending.

At Nassar's seven-day Ingham County sentencing, 156 women and girls spoke about how Nassar sexually assaulted them.

Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina sentenced Nassar to 40 to 175 years in prison, telling him she was signing his "death warrant."

In Eaton County, he was sentenced to 40 to 125 years in prison.