Former USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny arrested for evidence tampering
Former USA Gymnastics chief executive Steve Penny was arrested Wednesday night on a felony evidence tampering charge related to his alleged role in his and the organization’s cover-up of U.S. Olympic and national team physician Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of hundreds of gymnasts.
Penny’s arrest in a resort town in Tennessee’s Great Smokey Mountains follows an indictment of Penny by a Texas grand jury last month for third degree felony evidence tampering. The indictment alleges Penny ordered the removal of documents from the Karolyi Ranch in central Texas related to Nassar’s activities.
“The indictment further alleges that the removal of the documents was done for the purpose of impairing the ongoing investigation by destroying or hiding the documents,” the Walker County, Texas District Attorney’s office said in a statement Wednesday night.
Penny was arrested by a U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force and is being held in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where he awaits extradition to Texas. If convicted, Penny could face two to ten years in prison.
Penny was first informed of Nassar’s sexual abuse of U.S. national team member Maggie Nichols in June 2015. In the following weeks Penny was also informed that Olympic champions Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney had also likely been sexually assaulted by Nassar. Yet Penny kept the abuse hidden until September 2016, working with FBI agents in the bureau’s Indianapolis office, other USA Gymnastics officials and board members, as well as an attorney for the organization, according to documents obtained by the Southern California News Group.
On at least two occasions in the summer of 2015 Penny ordered USA Gymnastics officials and coaches to keep quiet about allegations of Nassar’s abuse of U.S. national team members at the Karolyi Ranch, the longtime U.S. Olympic and USA Gymnastics training site in central Texas owned by former U.S. national team directors Bela and Martha Karolyi.
“Hopefully this is the beginning of (law enforcement) holding Larry Nassar’s enablers accountable,” said John Manly, an Irvine attorney who represents dozens of Nassar survivors.
“Larry Nassar molested hundreds and he had help from a number of enablers, most notably Mr. Penny,” Manly said. “Mr. Penny knew Larry Nassar was a child molester and he kept it hidden for 15 months. And if the indictment is to be believed, he also intentionally covered up not only Dr. Nassar’s crimes but his as well.”
According to the Walker County DA, an investigation by the Texas Rangers and the Walker County Sheriff’s Office, “several sources reported that Penny ordered the removal of the documents from the ranch after learning that an investigation was underway.”
“The investigation revealed that the documents were delivered to Penny at the USAG Headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana,” the Walker County statement continued. “To date, those records have not been recovered and the location of the records is unknown. 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 was fired by USA Gymnastics in March 2017 after the USOC demanded his removal. Penny appeared before at a Congressional hearing earlier this year repeatedly asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination before finally being excused.