Texas governor orders rangers to investigate Karolyi Ranch

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Amid local and national shock surrounding the Karolyi Ranch, Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday directed the Texas Rangers to investigate the beleaguered facility and allegations of sexual assault on athletes.

The ranch, 67 miles north of Houston and started in the early 1980s by the famed husband-and-wife coaching team of Bela and Marta Karolyi, previously served as the National Training Center for USA Gymnastics. The facility has been rocked by reports of widespread sexual abuse of young athletes.

"The public statements made by athletes who previously trained at the Karolyi Ranch are gut-wrenching," Abbott said in a news release. "Those athletes, as well as all Texans, deserve to know that no stone is left unturned to ensure that the allegations are thoroughly vetted and the perpetrators and enablers of any such misconduct are brought to justice.

"The people of Texas demand, and the victims deserve, nothing less," he added.

Several gymnasts were sexually abused by sports doctor Larry Nassar and have said some of the abuse occurred at the ranch. Last week, Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing more than 150 women and girls over 25 years.

The ranch became a focal point in the Nassar scandal this month when Olympic gold medalist and three-time all-round world gymnastics champion Simone Biles wrote on Twitter that the thought of having to return to the ranch to train for the 2020 games "breaks my heart even more."

For some three decades, the Karolyi Ranch near this East Texas city kept a secluded, almost invisible presence in the community.

Tucked down winding dirt roads deep in Sam Houston National Forest, the ranch was off many locals’ radars and its founders, the Karolyis, were rarely seen around town.

News that the property is now at the center of a state and local investigation into alleged sexual assault of dozens of competitive gymnasts came as a nuclear-sized shock to this community.

“Totally surprised,” said Walker County Judge Danny Pierce, the county’s top administrator.

Pierce said not once in his 15 years as county judge has he ever met the Karolyis in person or seen them at social events. Police have not said the Karolyis themselves are under investigation.

“You don’t think about these things happening near you and then you find out it’s happening right under your nose,” Pierce said.

The sprawling property is dotted with trees and consists of several log cabin homes and a variety of green, barn-like buildings, all of which is surrounded by fences with “PRIVATE PROPERTY, NO TRESPASSING” warnings attatched to them. A few cars were parked in the homes’ carport but there was no immediate signs of people or activity anywhere on the property Tuesday.

One of the buildings still had a red-white-and-blue banner draped on one side that reads: “Olympic Training Site.”

Bela Karolyi burst onto the international gymnastic scene as the coach of 1976 Olympic champion Nadia Comaneci. He and Marta defected from their native Romania in 1981 during a world gymnastics tour that ended in New York.

According to a 2016 profile by ESPN and ABC News, the Karolyis discovered the land that would become home to the famed ranch during a hunting trip in the Sam Houston National Forest.

They purchased a small tract for their home and later expanded it to some 2,000 acres in a remote setting east of Huntsville and north of Houston.

There, world-class athletes including Mary Lou Retton, the 1984 Olympic champion, honed their skills.

According to the 2016 story, the ranch hosted up to 300 young female gymnasts at a time in the facility that featured state-of-the-art equipment along with a pool, play area and a menagerie of animals, both wild and domesticated.

No visitors except personal coaches were permitted during training sessions.

The gymnastics scandal came to light as a result of a 2016 expose by the Indianapolis Star but its reach and impact were not fully appreciated until Nassar's trial, which ended with his conviction and sentencing this month.

Last week, the Walker County Sheriff's Office confirmed to USA Today that it had opened an investigation into Karolyi Ranch but would not say what the inquiry was about or when it began.

The Texas Rangers are an elite arm of the state Department of Public Safety. The unit, which has about 160 commissioned officers, led the investigation into sexual abuse of underage girls at a remote Texas ranch operated by a rogue polygamist sect called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Warren Jeffs, the leader of the sect not affiliated with the Mormon church, is serving a life prison sentence.