LOCAL

Meridian Township hires investigator to review department's mishandling of Nassar case

Lansing State Journal

MERIDIAN TWP. — Meridian Township began and ended 2018 with Larry Nassar.

It started with an apology to Brianne Randall-Gay, whose 2004 criminal complaint about Nassar was not forwarded to prosecutors.

Now, nearing the end of 2018, the Township Board has approved a contract for an external investigator to look into what went wrong from the time Randall-Gay reported the assault to when the case was closed.

"There is no question what happened is a day we're not proud of in this township," town manager Frank Walsh said at the board meeting Dec. 11.

The external investigation will hopefully help bring closure to Randall-Gay, the township and the police department, Walsh said. Retired East Lansing police officer Ken Ouellette will conduct the investigation, which will cost $3,000-$4,500 and should be completed in 60 days.

Brianne Randall confronts Larry Nassar Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, during the sixth day of victim impact statements in Ingham County Circuit Court. In 2004, when she was 17, she filed a police report alleging molestation with Meridian Township police, but it was not sent to prosecutors.

"We know we should've forwarded this report to the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office. We know we should have brought in a medical expert to review what Nassar was saying was a medical procedure," Walsh said. "This contract now is a way to delve into exactly what happened ... and inform all of us what we can do better."

The external investigation comes at the end of the township's a year-long, $30,000 consulting contract with Randall-Gay to help with the development of a sexual assault prevention program.

Trustee Phil Deschaine said Randall-Gay continues to be the township's primary concern. He pointed out that the township began the year taking a "very different tact" than others did with the Nassar scandal — by apologizing for their mistakes.

"It was the right thing to do," Deschaine said.

In January, the township paid roughly $1,300 to fly Randall-Gay to Lansing from Washington to address Nassar at his sentencing hearing. After the sentencing, they issued a public apology to her and announced measures to improve sex assault awareness, education and training in the community and police department.

Randall-Gay was a 17-year-old soccer player seeing Nassar for treatment for her scoliosis when she reported to her mother, and then to Meridian Township police, that Nassar had sexually assaulted her.

She told police Nassar touched her vagina and massaged her breasts and buttocks. She had a rape kit done at Sparrow Hospital as a part of the department's investigation.

But Nassar told police the treatment was a legitimate medical procedure, and lead investigator Detective Andrew McCready closed the case without forwarding it on to prosecutors.

Recap: Meridian Township officials answer questions about 2004 Nassar investigation

Meridian Township officials: 'We can be better' after mishandling 2004 Nassar complaint

2004 police report: Teen felt 'uncomfortable,' 'scared' after Nassar appointment

Now, policy changes in Meridian Township require officers to submit a warrant request to the prosecutor's office for any criminal sexual conduct case with a suspect.

The department also reviewed nearly 600 sexual assault cases, and reopened seven.

Nassar, formerly of Holt, was sentenced in January to 40 to 175 years in prison in Ingham County on seven sexual assault charges. He was sentenced in February in Eaton County to 40 to 125 years in prison on three sex assault charges.

In December, he was sentenced in federal court to 60 years in prison for child pornography charges and is currently serving that sentence at a high security federal penitentiary in Sumterville, Florida.

Contact Kara Berg at 517-377-1113 or kberg@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @karaberg95.