Former USA Gymnastics trainer in Texas jail on sex abuse charge

[September 07, 2018]  AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A former USA Gymnastics trainer was arrested and jailed in Texas after being accused of sexually abusing a child at a team training facility in Huntsville, jail officials said on Thursday.

Debbie Van Horn, 64, was being held in the Walker County Jail on a single abuse count. There was no lawyer listed for her in jail records. She is due to be arraigned on Friday, according to a media report.

In June, she was charged by a grand jury in the county and former team doctor Larry Nassar was charged with six counts of sexual assault that allegedly occurred at a training camp in Huntsville run by gymnastics coaches Bela and Marta Karolyi. The Karolyis were not charged and have said they knew nothing about the alleged assaults at the training camp.

Van Horn was arrested at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston by Homeland Security officials after getting off a plane from China, the Huntsville Item newspaper reported, citing the local district attorney.

Nassar, who also worked at Michigan State University, was sentenced in Michigan in January to up to 175 years in prison for abusing young female gymnasts who were entrusted to his care.

Former USA Gymnastics trainer Debbie Van Horn appears in a booking photo provided by Walker County Jail in Huntsville, Texas, U.S. September 6, 2018. Walker County Jail/Handout via REUTERS

The Karolyi facility has been used for regular training camps but shortly after the Nassar sentencing, USA Gymnastics canceled training sessions there. Reuters was unable to reach the Karolyi facility for comment.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz)

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