4th warrant requested; MSU will investigate program

President Lou Anna K. Simon does not think an outside investigation would find significant problems within the program

Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press
A Michigan State Spartans helmet.

EAST LANSING — The criminal investigation into an alleged sexual assault involving three unidentified Michigan State football players now includes a fourth person from the university, but school president Lou Anna K. Simon does not believe that the inquiry will find significant problems within the program.

MSU has retained Detroit law firm Jones Day to investigate the football program, university spokesman Jason Cody said this afternoon.

Scott Hughes, a spokesman for the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office, said this morning that there is another warrant request, for a Michigan State University staff member, along with the three warrant requests announced Thursday.

“The fourth one is a non-sexual crime alleged, I believe an obstructing-an-investigation, and that may be an MSU ordinance violation,” Hughes said.

Obstructing an investigation is a two-year felony.

The fourth warrant request was first reported by ESPN. 

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Simon today read a statement to the MSU Board of Trustees about the investigations, covering the investigation into the football players and sexual-assault charges against former MSU gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar together -- while stressing that they are separate situations.

“Because there are multiple investigations surrounding one incident, and these take time to unfold,” Simon said of the football investigation, “it can be confusing and frustrating for me and to members of our community and to the public, at large. In all cases involving sexual assault and other forms of gender violence, there is both a law enforcement and Title IX investigations. Those investigations are separate and must proceed independently.”

“I have no necessary concerns that there are big issues,” Simon told reporters after the board meeting. “But the confidence of the community requires that we look at it diligently. … It’s a matter of how we inform us of how to best deal with issues regarding sexual assault, sexual harassment and other issues. We’ve already done an enormous amount of training.”

Cody said Tuesday that Curtis Blackwell, the football program’s director of college advancement and performance, has been suspended with pay. The university said it could not release details nor circumstances surrounding the suspension. Cody had said a day earlier that an unidentified football staff member was suspended Feb. 9, pending the completion of a Title IX investigation. The university would not confirm whether Blackwell is that staff member.

Related: MSU's Simon: 'There is no culture of tolerance of sexual assault'|

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Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon on Thursday said she has asked Michigan State University Police to continue their investigation into the alleged sexual assault and “submit to our office additional information and evidence.” Siemon said in a news release that she then would review the materials and determine whether charges will be filed. MSU Police had submitted their initial report Thursday morning.

The three players who are under investigation are suspended from football activities and have been removed from university housing. The alleged sexual assault took place in January, according to MSU. No other details have been released.

Cody said Monday that the three players “were suspended as soon as allegations naming them were made to the Athletics Department leadership,” but he declined to discuss the specifics of the suspensions nor their timing, due to the ongoing criminal and Title IX investigations. All three players remain on their athletic scholarships. Cody said, because they have been removed from on-campus housing, they are receiving a prorated stipend to live off campus, per federal cost-of-attendance rules.

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Simon said the speed with which MSU acted in issuing suspensions shows that the university wanted to deal with the situation “in a straight-up fashion” and not worry about the allegations potentially damaging its reputation.

MSU has outsourced the Title IX investigation to Ann Arbor-based Rebecca Veidlinger, who previously had served as head of MSU’s Office for Institutional Equity and interim deputy Title IX coordinator. Veidlinger is in her final year of a three-year appointment to the State Bar of Michigan Domestic Violence Committee. She told the Free Press via email Monday that she cannot comment on the Title IX investigation nor offer a timeline for its conclusion.