Governing body’s 21 board members resign

Nassar slipped through the cracks in 2004 when Michigan township duped by doctor

USA Gymnastics said Wednesday that all 21 members of its board of directors have resigned in compliance with a demand by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The USOC last week required the board resignations among a list of demands to the embattled federation in the wake of the sentencing of former national team doctor Larry Nassar in Michigan on seven counts of criminal sexual conduct.

USA Gymnastics said it will name an interim board in February, as required by the USOC and “will hold the organization to the highest standards of care and safety in further developing a culture of empowerment for our athletes and members.”

Meanwhile, the Lansing (Mich.) State Journal reported Wednesday that more than 265 women and girls have told the Michigan attorney general’s office that Nassar sexually assaulted them. New complaints are still coming in this week, officials said.

Nassar, USA Gymnastics’ national team doctor from 1996 through 2015, last week was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty to seven state count of criminal sexual conduct.

Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber are among the hundreds of gymnasts who have said the 54-year-old Nassar abused them under the guise of medical treatment.

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday ordered the Texas Rangers to conduct a criminal investigation into actions that may have taken place at the Karolyi Ranch in the Sam Houston National Forest, the former USA Gymnastics national training center owned by Bela and Martha Karolyi.

Several gymnasts have said they were abused by Nassar at the ranch, and the Rangers also were asked to determine if anyone associated with the ranch or USA Gymnastics had knowledge or should have had knowledge of Nassar’s actions and failed to report them.

Also in Michigan, a police department in the Lansing area missed an opportunity to pursue criminal charges in 2004 against Nassar and will publicly apologize to the victim who accused the doctor of molesting her during treatment for an abnormal spine.

Meridian Township will make the apology Thursday to Brianne Randall-Gay and announce changes in how it handles sexual misconduct investigations, township manager Frank Walsh said.

Nassar, who also was a sports doctor at Michigan State, convinced police that he had performed a legitimate procedure with his hands and even provided a PowerPoint presentation to explain.

“We missed it,” Walsh said. “We’re not going to hide it. We were deceived.”

The township released the 2004 police report on RandallGay’s allegations against Nassar. Walsh said the township was told to withhold it from the public until Nassar was sentenced last week.

In 2004, Randall-Gay was 17 when she and her mother visited Nassar to discuss treatment for scoliosis, a curvature of the spine.