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Wrote a victim impact statement again. My fourth in less than three years.
Kathy Klages is being sentenced tomorrow for lying to investigators when I filed my police report.
If she had done the right thing in 1997, almost none of us would have even met Larry.
Kathy Klages is being sentenced tomorrow for lying to investigators when I filed my police report.
If she had done the right thing in 1997, almost none of us would have even met Larry.
If she had done the right thing in 1997, the two survivors who spoke up would have been saved from further abuse, protected, validated, and could have moved forward with healing decades earlier.
Instead, they were gaslit, mocked, and turned over for more abuse.
Instead, they were gaslit, mocked, and turned over for more abuse.
If Kathy had done the right thing in 2016 when I filed my report, I wouldn't have been the only one. The chain of evidence to so many of the survivors (MSU gymnasts) wouldn't have been closed.
I wouldn't have been left alone, mocked as an international headline for making it up.
I wouldn't have been left alone, mocked as an international headline for making it up.
If Kathy had done the right thing when my report was filed, the weight I had to carry would have been so much less. The institutional response made better, knowledge of Larry's abuse more sure.
Because when I filed my report, a doctor called in and testified to police that when she was Larry's trainee and colleague in the late 90's NO pelvic floor therapy was allowed. Not even external. Any pelvic contact was a fireable offense at that time.
If Kathy had told the truth about Larry's "treatments" in 1997 - a time when NO pelvic contact was allowed, his defense of medical treatment would have crumbled immediately.
But she didn't.
So the victims carried the weight again.
But she didn't.
So the victims carried the weight again.
If Kathy had told the truth in 2016 instead of asking gymnasts on the current MSU team to sign a card of support for Larry when he was arrested, survivors could have known they weren't crazy and they could have raised their voices and gotten help much earlier.
Instead, she told survivors and parents who questioned Larry's actions that the child porn found on his computer was probably planted.
At the point she said this I was the only one speaking publicly. Planting that child porn like she alleged, would have been a crime.
At the point she said this I was the only one speaking publicly. Planting that child porn like she alleged, would have been a crime.
Had she told the truth at any point in the last three years, we could have moved forward towards making change together. She could have provided closure and healing for so many. She could have made such a difference.
But she didn't. So I'm writing yet another impact statement.
But she didn't. So I'm writing yet another impact statement.
If you've made this kind of mistake - own it. Confront it. Acknowledge and grapple with it. And help fight for the truth.
Not doing so will deeply wound the victims, and it will destroy you.
I didn't want to be writing another impact statement.
Not doing so will deeply wound the victims, and it will destroy you.
I didn't want to be writing another impact statement.
