LANSING, Mich. — Former MSU Gymnastics Coach Kathy Klages is set to appear in court next week for sentencing.
Klages was supposed to receive her sentencing back on July 15, but the hearing was postponed due to a water main break outside of the Ingham County Courthouse located in downtown Lansing.
Last February, Klages was found guilty of two counts of lying to police during the Larry Nassar scandal.
She testified that she had “no recollection” of a conversation in which two teen athletes allegedly told her of sexual abuse by sports doctor Larry Nassar in 1997, nearly 20 years before he was charged.
Klages told the jury that she started Spartan Youth Gymnastics in the early 90′s. She said the group wasn’t competitive like Twistars and her role with them ended in 2000.
Klages said she didn't even remember Larissa Boyce or hearing a claim from her about any abuse from Larry Nassar.
Boyce testified that when she was 16 and training with the Spartan Youth Gymnastics team in 1997, she told Klages about Nassar — long before the scandal emerged in 2016.
But she said she backed off and even apologized after Klages warned her that any complaints about Nassar could cause trouble.
Klages did admit to knowing the anonymous woman because she was on her daughter's gymnastics squad.
She added that she met Nassar in 1988 and developed a professional friendship.
When the Indy Star article broke about Nassar's abuse, Klages said on the stand that she defended Nassar to her gymnasts. She told the jury that she cried when she read the article. But she also asked her athletes to sign a card in support for Nassar.
She told the court that she does not have any memory issues.
She is the second person other than Nassar to go to trial on charges related to his serial molestation of young women and girls under the guise of medical treatment. Klages resigned in 2017 after she was suspended for defending the since-imprisoned Nassar.
In closing statements, the prosecution said Klages lied in 2018 when she told investigators that the two young athletes, who were in a campus gymnastics program but not Michigan State gymnasts, had not reported Nassar’s sexual misconduct to her.
“It’s not believable that the defendant forgot about being told ... what happened to them,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Rolstin.
Defense attorney Mary Chartier urged jurors to not “rely on the word of two teenage girls from 23 years ago” and noted that Klages sent her children and a granddaughter to be treated by Nassar for years after she was allegedly told of his abuse.
Klages faces up to four years in prison.
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