Report: Ex-MSU Student Athlete Claims Larry Nassar Drugged, Raped Her in 1992

A former Michigan State field hockey player filed a lawsuit alleging Larry Nassar drugged and raped her in 1992.

A former Michigan State field hockey player alleges in a recent lawsuit that Larry Nassar drugged and raped her during a 1992 medical appointment, according to the Lansing State Journal.

Erika Davis filed a lawsuit in federal court in Grand Rapids recently. The lawsuit lists Michigan State, the Board of Trustees, Nassar, USA Gymnastics and others as defendents, per the Journal.

Davis claimed that she told her coach what happened and that the assault was videotaped. Davis's coach, Martha Ludwig, approached Nassar about the incident. She demanded and received a copy of the recording, reports the Journal.

Then-Michigan State athletic director George Perles resigned in 1992 and is a current trustee. The complaint against Nassar was dropped after Perles intervened. He forced Ludwig to return the recording, resign and sign a non-disclosure agreement, according to the Journal.

Davis said she became pregnant and later had a miscarriage. She claimed that Nassar was the only man who could have been the father.

Michigan State spokesperson Emily Guerrant released a statement to the Journal on the lawsuit.

"We are deeply sorry for the abuses Larry Nassar has committed and for the trauma experienced by all sexual assault survivors," Guerrant said. "Sexual abuse, assault and relationship violence are not tolerated in our campus community.

"While the protocols and procedures mentioned in this lawsuit do not reflect how sexual assault claims are handled at MSU, we are taking the allegations very seriously and looking into the situation."

The Journal reports that Davis and two friends went to the Michigan State Police Department in Oct. 1992 to file a report. The police told Davis to file a complaint with the athletic department. A detective told Davis that he was "powerless" to investigate it.

When Davis told police that the athletic department had already dismissed her complaint, the Sergeant said that Perles is a "powerful man" and she should drop it.

Davis also claimed that her field hockey scholarship was taken away from her, per the Journal.

"This proves that not only did Defendant Michigan State University have knowledge that Defendant Nassar sexually abused and sexually assaulted minors, but that it would also go to great lengths to conceal this conduct," Davis's attorneys wrote in the lawsuit, via the Journal.

"Defendant Michigan State University could have stopped Defendant Nassar’s conduct back in 1992, but did not."

Current Michigan State Police Chief Jim Dunlap, who was not chief in 1992, told the Journal that he was unaware of the lawsuit or whether or not the department ever received a report.

The Michigan State Police Department led the criminal investigations into Nassar in 2014 and 2016. The 2014 investigation ended when Ingham County prosecutors did not issue charges. The 2016 investigation ended with state and federal convictions of Nassar, as well as hundreds of women and girls reporting that he abused them.

Nassar was a student in Michigan State's College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1992, but he had started working as a USA Gymnastics athletic trainer in 1986. Michigan State hired Nassar in 1997 and later fired him in 2016 as the number of sexual assault reports against him increased.

He is currently serving a 60-year sentence on federal child pornography charges. Nassar also received a sentence of 40 to 125 years in Michigan state prison on seven first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges.

Nassar has appealed his sentences, all of which have been denied so far.