The Michigan trial of Larry Nassar, the former doctor for U.S.A. Gymnastics who was sentenced up to 175 years in prison, prompted the Texas governor to ask the Texas Rangers to investigate what went on at the ranch owned by famed gymnastics coaches Bela and Martha Karolyi.

The Rangers likely will be cooperating with a county sheriff’s investigation already underway. Until recently, the ranch north of Houston served as USA Gymnastics’ national women’s training center.

Houston attorney and former federal prosecutor Philip Hilder of Hilder & Associates, P.C., said in addition to investigating what the doctor did at the ranch, law enforcement will look into what ranch staff members or coaches knew about or allowed to happen.

The victims said they reached out and reported abuse. The investigators will want to know who received their complaints, what they reported, how did they report it, and what,  if anything was done, said Mr. Hilder, a criminal defense attorney.

Authorities will conduct an investigation into whether other individuals were aware, complicit or involved. If others were aware that felonies occurred at the ranch and had the duty to report the abuse and failed to do so, there may be criminal exposure, he said.

I’m not saying anyone was criminally involved, but it is a matter that the authorities are obliged to investigate. It is a waste of resources to go after Nassar himself given that he already received a sentence of what amounts to life in prison.

For more information or to set up an interview, contact Mary Flood at 800-559-4534 or mary@androvett.com.