The former president and CEO of USA Gymnastics has been arrested for tampering with evidence in relation to the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.
Steve Penny had been indicted by a grand jury for allegedly removing documents from a training centre during the investigation into the disgraced former team doctor. The arrest was made in Tennessee on Wednesday.
The files have not been recovered.
Nassar has been sentenced to more than 300 years for molesting young gymnasts.
Mr. Penny resigned as head of USA Gymnastics in 2017 during the investigation into Nassar, who assaulted over 300 women under the guise of medical treatment at USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University.
According to the indictment, Mr. Penny removed documents relating to Nassar’s activities at the Karolyi Ranch training facility in Walker County, Texas with “the purpose of impairing the ongoing investigation by destroying or hiding the documents”.
Mr. Penny is awaiting transfer to Texas, where faces between two and 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 (£7,635) if found guilty.
Sabarimala: Mobs attack women near India Hindu temple
Crowds of angry Hindu devotees have prevented women from entering one of Hinduism’s holiest temples despite a historic Supreme Court ruling.
Crowds of agitated protesters in Kerala attacked female devotees, many of whom turned back as a result.
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Several people including an old woman were injured as crowds threw stones at vehicles and attacked police officers.
The Sabarimala temple has historically been closed to women of “menstruating age”.
Hinduism regards menstruating women as unclean and bars them from participating in religious rituals.
But while most Hindu temples allow women to enter as long as they are not menstruating, the Sabarimala temple was unusual in that it was one of the few that do not allow women in a broad age group to enter at all.
This was overturned by the Supreme Court last month, with judges observing that “the right to practice religion is available to both men and women”.
The temple did open its doors as directed by the court ruling. However, not a single woman was able to enter because of the protesters.
The protesters also include many women – they have participated in rallies, blocked roads and checked vehicles heading towards the temple to see if they contain women between 10 and 50.
Every year, millions of male devotees trek up a steep hill to visit the shrine, which is believed to be about 800 years old. They undertake a rigorous 41-day fast before they begin the pilgrimage.
The campaign to allow women into the temple gathered momentum in 2016 after a protest by female students.
They were outraged by the Sabarimala temple chief’s statement that he would allow women to enter only after a machine was invented to detect if they were “pure” – meaning that they weren’t menstruating.
Nikita Azad, who started the campaign, told the BBC at the time that there was no “right time” to go into a temple and that women should have the right to go “wherever they want to and whenever they want to”.
