Victims take their case to Austin
Walker County DA defends local probe after athletes, attorneys claim Texas is doing little
AUSTIN — Former gymnasts who were sexually abused by disgraced USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar asked the Texas attorney general’s office Thursday to direct an investigation into crimes that might have occurred in Texas, arguing Texas investigators have not moved as aggressively as those in other states.
But within hours of that request, Walker County District Attorney David Weeks said the Texas Rangers and Walker County Sheriff’s Department can handle the local investigation and he has no plans at this time to ask for help from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
A grand jury could be seated this summer to consider whether criminal charges should be filed, county officials in Huntsville said.
“I have the utmost confidence in the Texas Rangers and the Walker County Sheriff ’s Department,” Weeks said. “When they have completed their investigation, my office will review all of the information gathered and present the findings (to the grand jury).”
Weeks’ comments came hours after five former gymnasts were joined by their attorneys in front
of the attorney general’s office, asking Paxton to launch an investigation or intervene in the current probe into possible crimes that might have occurred at the Sam Houston National Forest ranch owned by Bela and Martha Karolyi. The ranch until 2016 housed the USA Gymnastics women’s training center.
“I can’t understand why this is not taken seriously in Texas right now,” said 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Jamie Dantzscher. “How many little girls and young women does it take to take sexual abuse seriously?”
Attorneys said they are concerned the Texas investigation might be focused solely on Nassar and not on others who might have had knowledge of his actions and failed to report them. They also believe Texas should emulate Indiana and Michigan in having the state attorney general involved.
“This is a crime that occurred across state lines and a crime that occurred internationally,” said attorney John Manly, who has filed lawsuits in California against USA Gymnastics, Nassar and, in one case, the Karolyis. “Attorneys general know each other. They need to coordinate this investigation and work together, and right now Texas isn’t doing that.”
Waco attorney Michelle Tuegel, who along with Houston attorney Mohammad Aziz has filed state and federal civil lawsuits on behalf of Nassar’s victims, said potential criminal violations associated with the Nassar case in Texas could include failure to report sexual abuse, injury to a child and endangering a child.
“We know there were all these adults who allowed (Nassar) to continue to do this on Texas soil, and we owe these survivors and these victims more than that in Texas,” Tuegel said. “They’ve done it in Michigan. I think Texas needs to step up.”
One focus of the probe, attorneys argue, should be Martha Karolyi, who was women’s national team coordinator from 2001 through 2016 during a time when several gymnasts, including Dantzscher and other Olympic medalists, have said they were molested by Nassar at the ranch under the guise of medical care.
Thursday’s news conference came a day after Martha Karolyi’s attorney acknowledged Karolyi misspoke in a June 2017 deposition when she said she learned in June 2015 that Nassar had molested gymnasts at the ranch, a year before he was arrested in Michigan.
Attorney Gary Jewell, who represents the Karolyis, said Martha Karolyi did not learn until after the 2016 Olympics that Nassar was suspected of sexual abuse of gymnasts under the guise of medical care.
But Manly said he believes Karolyi’s initial statement and noted she did not change her story when given a chance to review her deposition testimony.
“Mr. Jewell’s statement is a desperate attempt to explain that he got caught, and Mrs. Karolyi got caught, in a big fat lie,” Manly said. “Mrs. Karolyi knew in June 2015 that Larry Nassar had assaulted little girls. The law in Texas requires her to immediately call the police or call child protection services, and she didn’t.
“And, as a result, there are women standing up here, including a 16-year-old girl who was molested after that time, and the responsibility lies squarely on Mrs. Karolyi’s shoulders (and those of other USA Gymnastics officials).”
Manly’s reference was to Autumn Blaney, 16, who was abused at a gym in Michigan by Nassar after June 2015.
“It is incredibly unfair that Martha didn’t do her job and protect me,” Blaney said. “I think it’s awful that I couldn’t trust adults that were supposed to protect me.”
Nassar, who worked with USA Gymnastics for more than 20 years and also treated athletes at Michigan State, is serving the equivalent of a life prison sentence for criminal sexual conduct in Michigan and federal charges of possession of child pornography.
Paxton’s spokesman, Mark Rylander, said the attorney general’s office was confident the Rangers and Walker County officials can investigate the case without assistance but that his office would assist if asked.
Manly said Rylander’s response was “political speak for we intend to do nothing. The survivors find this statement bitterly disappointing.”