LONG ARM OF THE LAW

Former USA Gymnastics Trainer Arrested on Sexual-Assault Charges

Debbie Van Horn was indicted with Larry Nassar, but has only now returned to the U.S.

A former USA Gymnastics trainer who worked alongside team doctor Larry Nassar was taken into custody at a Houston airport on charges of sexually assaulting a child, prosecutors said Thursday. Debbie Van Horn was indicted on the charge in June but had reportedly been out of the country for several weeks. She was detained by Homeland Security officials at George Bush Intercontinental Airport after returning from China. “Ms. Van Horn has returned to the United States to clear her name from these false charges and to restore her impeccable reputation,” her attorney, Emily Detoto, was quoted as saying by CNN. Van Horn reportedly plans to plead not guilty at an arraignment hearing on Friday. Van Horn is accused of “acting as a party” to a sexual assault of one of Nassar’s victims at the Karolyi Ranch, the vaunted gymnastics training center where many Olympic athletes have trained. Nassar is serving a 60-year sentence in a Florida prison on child-pornography charges, and he was also hit with a maximum of 275 years behind bars for sexually assaulting numerous women.