All Larry Nassar had to do to get investigators off his case in 2004 was say he was doing medical treatment, according to police documents released by Meridian Township police. The reports, released today, catalogue the steps police took when Brianne Randall (now Brianne Randall-Gay) came to them with her mother in 2004, saying Nassar had touched her breasts and tried to penetrate her vagina with his fingers during an exam. According to the records, Nassar—who is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison following his guilty pleas on multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct—told officers that what he was doing was medical treatment. He gave them a PowerPoint presentation to prove it. And they believed him, closing the case soon afterward without talking to anyone else. The final notation in the report is a call to Randall-Gay’s mother, telling her the case will be closed.
Here is what the reports show.
The first report, dated Sept. 17, says that the 17-year-old went to Nassar due to scoliosis. She later recalled that her first visit was sometime in August, and it ended with Nassar referring her to physical therapy, which she did. At no point did he give her a massage. Her mother was with her during the appointment, and a medical student was in the room, too, according to the reports.
A few months later, Randall went back to Nassar for a checkup. Unlike the first appointment, she went by herself. It began with Nassar taking similar steps as during the first one, having her change into a gown and shorts, checking her strength and flexibility. Then he had her lay on her stomach for a “soft tissue massage,” she told police.
It was then that he said he “might give her a wedgie,” she told police, and he ripped open the Velcro attachment on the shorts. He pulled down her underwear. He began rubbing her buttocks. She later recalled in a second interview that this was when he told her, “I bet people at physical therapy don’t do this,” according to the reports. Nassar continued to massage her lower back, then eventually put his hand on her bare vagina. He asked her if it hurt, and she said no, even though it did. He couldn’t penetrate her vagina, she told police, because she had a tampon in. But he tried. This went on for about 20 minutes, the report said. While rubbing her neck, he reached under her gown and put his hands on her bare breasts, rubbing and squeezing them. He told her “this would also relieve the tension in her back and buttocks.” It lasted about 10 to 15 minutes.
Afterward, as Randall put her clothes back on, he told her that he wanted to see her “once a week, for a while, for about an hour per visit.” And he gave her a hug.
The police asked Randall if she would let a nurse examiner her for a rape kit, and she said yes. The examination kit was picked up by police and attached to the original report. The police also received some clothing that Randall’s mother gave them as possible evidence. About a week later, on Sept. 23, an officer talks to Randall again, and she recalled again what happened. That officer tried to call Nassar, but nobody answered the phone at his home.
Nassar talked to police on Sept. 29. During his interview, Nassar insisted that what he had done was “a medical technique known as Sacrotuberous Ligament Release,” according to the police report. He even gave police a 25-page PowerPoint presentation on it, which was attached to the police report.
And that was that. Police then told Randall’s mother about what Nassar had said, and closed the case.
The final page of narrative concludes: “The doctor was using a medically accepted technique for the alleviation of pain. No crime was committed.”
Meridian Township police are scheduled to hold a press conference tomorrow. The Lansing State Journal says that officials are expected to apologize publicly to Randall-Gay at the press conference.
The full police report is below.