CLOSE

It has been two years since IndyStar investigation revealed incomplete reporting by executives of USA Gymnastics of sexual-abuse allegations from its athletes. However, the troubled culture still surrounds the Indianapolis-based organization.
Dwight Adams, [email protected]

Former USA Gymnastics President Steve Penny did not answer questions on June 5 during a Senate Subcommittee hearing on "Preventing Abuse in Olympic and Amateur Athletics: Ensuring a Safe and Secure Environment for Our Athletes." (AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster)(Photo: Carolyn Kaster, AP)

Walker County Criminal District Attorney David Weeks said he would be issuing a subpoena to compel the United States of America.

Last week, USA Gymnastics feels Weeks told us, Weeks told IndyStar on Thursday.

"We do not know anything about them at this point," Weeks said. "And until we see what they are and we've gotten to get to where we've been, we're kind of stuck."

USA Gymnastics said, in a statement, it contacts Weeks' office after reading media coverage in late October the Walker County criminal district attorney's office was looking for "Larry Nassar's name" that was removed from the Karolyi Ranch in Texas.

Timing was crucial: Texas Rangers arrived at Karolyi Ranch. Sources say Steve Penny then gave an order: Remove documents.
More USAG: To send Olympians, a new body would have replaced USA Gymnastics

The national governing body said Walker County

"USA Gymnastics possesses documents that may have come from the ranch that may be applicable to the investigation, but none of these documents contain Nassar's name," the organization said Thursday. "Since the Board of Directors was seated only in late June 2018, it had no way of knowing if the documents were relevant to the case or they originated at the Ranch."

Weeks challenged that account. He said he believes Texas investigators have been asking for documents.

"I think everybody was pretty aware that we were here where they were," he said. "It's hard to ask when everybody says 'we do not know.'"

Patrick Sandusky, Spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee, said in his statement that "the belated discovery of these documents is a role in our decision to begin the process of reviving USA Gymnastics' recognition as a National Governing Body."

The New York Times reported Thursday that the move by the USOC was intended "to warn the possibility of another scandal."

Karolyi Ranch visited by Texas Rangers in 2016

The documents were a source of interest since early November 2016, when the Texas Rangers showed up at the ranch – which served as the USA's National Gymnastics Center, two sources close to the situation told IndyStar. When the Rangers arrived, someone at the ranch immediately called USA Gymnastics officials in Indianapolis to seek guidance.

That guidance was to ask whether the Rangers had a warrant.

They did not. And they were promptly turned away.

The Rangers were invited to come back later – USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny had called the ranch and ordered an employee to collect and remove medical documents.

The sources did not know exactly what was included among the papers. Nassar often treated female gymnasts at the ranch. One source, however, said the papers were voluminous enough that the employee, Amy White, had to buy a large suitcase, and use two additional boxes, to transport them back to Indianapolis.

The documents, the sources said, were flown back to Indianapolis and taken to the USA Gymnastics headquarters. What happened to them after that is unknown.

Weeks said a search warrant was issued for the Karolyi Ranch, but by then the documents already had been removed.

Weeks said he would file the subpoena "very soon" but did not know the specific date. He said it was too early to say that it would come to Texas to collect documents.

It is not clear that the same documents are the same records that were alleged to be missing in a criminal case against Penny.

An impact on Steve Penny's case?

Penny, who resigned from USA Gymnastics under pressure from the USOC in 2017, was indicted in September on a felony count of tampering with evidence, according to a news release from the Walker County Criminal District Attorney's Office in Texas. The 54-year-old is accused of the removal of documents from the Karolyi Ranch in Texas "for the purpose of the odd of the ongoing investigation by destroying or hiding the documents," according to the release.

Weeks said it is "too early to say" how does Penny's criminal case.

Rusty Hardin, a Houston attorney representing Penny in the criminal case, told IndyStar he was not convinced any records were ever really missing. He also insists Penny never had them.

"Everybody's been talking about something and doing something about it," Hardin said. "At the end of the day it's going to turn out that Steve Penny never saw any of these documents, never had them in his custody or control."

Hardin said he expects pennies to be cleared of the criminal allegations.

"There is no question that it is advisable, along with his lawyer, that they are entrusted to Indiana for safe keeping," he said. "But they were never given to him and never again."

The New York Times article said the USOC sought to revoke the USOC Gymnastics' designation as a national governing body because of the USOC had "grown in the leadership of the (gymnastics) federation."

The Times said that it is not clear that they are in the position of being able to do so. , including Olympians, looking for new direction. "

Call IndyStar reporter Marisa Kwiatkowski at 317-444-6135. Follow her on Twitter: @IndyMarisaK.

Call IndyStar reporter Tim Evans at 317-444-6204. Follow him on Twitter: @starwatchtim.

Doyel: USOC removes USA Gymnastics' national oversight. Now fire all who work there.

Read or Share this story: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/investigations/2018/11/08/usa-gymnastics-larry-nassar-sexual-abuse-scandal-steve-penny-missing-records- maybe-found / 1932219002 /