Account
Ex-MSU President Lou Anna Simon's Charges Dismissed in Larry Nassar Case
May 13, 2020
A Michigan judge dismissed charges against former Michigan State president Lou Anna Simon stemming from the Larry Nassar case.
Per Ed White of the Associated Press, Eaton County Judge John Maurer dismissed charges that Simon lied to police about her knowledge of a sexual misconduct complaint filed against Nassar when he worked at Michigan State.
Per Dave Eggert of the Associated Press, Simon was formally charged in November 2018 after being accused of making two false and misleading statements to police.
Eggert noted Simon said she was unaware of a sexual misconduct complaint that led to the school's Title IX investigation into Nassar.
According to court records obtained by Matt Mencarini and Kara Berg of the Lansing State Journal, Simon had a meeting with the head of the school's Title IX office four days after a woman told a Michigan State investigator she was sexually assaulted by Nassar.
Simon told authorities that she didn't know about the nature of the complaints against Nassar or the Title IX investigation until 2016.
"'The prosecution did not provide evidence sufficient to give a reasonable person probable cause to believe that Dr. Simon knew during her 2018 interview that her purported knowledge in 2014 of Dr. Nassar's name and the 'nature' and 'substance' of the complaint against him' were relevant to the 2018 investigation, Maurer said of his decision to dismiss the charges," per White.
Nassar, who worked as a team physician at Michigan State and team doctor for USA Gymnastics, is serving a minimum of 100 years in prison after being found guilty of criminal sexual conduct in two cases and child pornography in a third case.
Simon resigned as Michigan State's president in January 2018 amid backlash for her handling of the Nassar scandal.