INGHAM COUNTY, Mich. – Former Michigan State University Gymnastics Coach Kathie Klages was sentenced to 90 days in jail on Tuesday for lying to police in the Larry Nassar case.
Kathie Klages, 65, was found guilty in February of a felony and a misdemeanor for denying she knew of Nassar’s abuse prior to 2016 when survivors started to come forward publicly.
Before hearing her sentence, Klages tearfully addressed the judge. She continued to claim she didn’t know anything regarding Nassar’s abuse of girls and young women.
Nassar was sentenced in 2018 to 40 to 175 years in prison for decades of molestation of young women and girls under the guise of medical treatment
READ: Ex-MSU coach Kathie Klages found guilty of lying in Larry Nassar scandal, misconduct in office
“During the process I have learned that Larry Nassar victimized members of my MSU gymnastics team, women that I dearly loved,” Klages said.
Klages said she prided herself on protecting her young gymnasts at all costs. But two of those gymnast, who were just teens at the time, said they came to Klages pleading for help.
Klages said she doesn’t remember the conversations. She said she had been seeing a therapist to try to remember the conversations, and she apologized to victims if they occurred.
“If it did occur, and I responded in the way they said I did, I am truly horrified and I am so sorry,” Klages said.
Attorney General Dana Nessel said Klages knew about the abuse and did nothing. Then Klages lied to police about it, Nessel said.