Lawsuit Claims Nassar Raped Student in 1992, MSU Covered It Up
The lawsuit alleges then-athletic director and current trustee George Perles was involved in the cover up.
There’s a new lawsuit in the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal, this time ensnaring a big name at Michigan State; George Perles. The suit filed by a former student athlete for MSU alleges she was sent to then-medical student Larry Nassar in 1992 to treat a knee injury. She says she was drugged and raped by Nassar, and impregnated. She says she lost that pregnancy to miscarriage. The student went to the police, who sent her to file her complaints with the athletic department.
That’s where the story takes yet another insidious turn.
The lawsuit alleges former Athletic Director George Perles — also a former MSU football coach and current member of the board of trustees — covered for Nassar.
Detroit News reporter Kim Kozlowski has been covering the Nassar saga. Regarding the latest lawsuit, she writes:
Serial pedophile Larry Nassar videotaped the rape of a young field hockey player that led to her pregnancy in 1992 – and when her coach at Michigan State University complained about it, former athletic director George Perles intervened and covered it up, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court…
Until now, former head gymnastics coach Kathie Klages was thought to be the first MSU official to allegedly learn of Nassar’s conduct when Larissa Boyce and another former gymnast told Klages in 1997 that he had abused them.
“This proves that not only did Defendant Michigan State University have knowledge that Defendant Nassar sexually abused and sexually assaulted minors, but that it would also go to great lengths to conceal this conduct,” according to the lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. “Defendant Michigan State University could have stopped Defendant Nassar’s conduct back in 1992, but did not.
“Michigan State University could have prevented hundreds of young girls and women from being sexually assaulted by Defendant Nassar had they only acted appropriately, decently and lawfully in 1992.”
To hear more details from Kozlowski’s reporting on Detroit Today, click on the audio player above.
