Former USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny arrested, indicted for tampering with evidence. U.S. Marshals arrested the former CEO and president of USA Gymnastics in Gatlinburg, Tenn., on Wednesday on a warrant for tampering with evidence related to the investigation into possible wrongdoing at the Karolyi Ranch.

Steve Penny remains in the Sevier County Jail pending extradition to Walker County, Texas, where he was indicted by a grand jury Sept. 28 on a count of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony.

According to a release from David Weeks, the district attorney in Walker County, Penny ordered the removal of documents from the Karolyi Ranch after learning the Texas Rangers were investigating allegations that Larry Nassar had sexually abused gymnasts there. The records were delivered to Penny in Indianapolis, but their current whereabouts are unknown.

The third-degree felony is punishable by two to 10 years in prison.

“The removal of the documents was done for the purpose of impairing the ongoing investigation by destroying or hiding the documents,” the statement said. “The Texas Rangers and the detectives believe that those records … would have helped in their investigation of Nassar as well as assisted with the investigation of other offenses that may have occurred at the Karolyi Ranch.”

It’s not clear why there was a nearly three-week gap between Penny’s indictment and his arrest. Edith Matthai, Penny’s attorney, said they’d had “no knowledge of the indictment or the warrant for his arrest” until marshals arrived Wednesday night at the cabin where Penny was on vacation with his wife and three daughters.

“Had we known of either this would have been handled with counsel without a sudden arrest in front of his wife and children while he was on vacation,” Matthai wrote. It’s not known when Penny will be transferred to Texas or make his initial appearance in Walker County on the tampering charge.

“Mr. Penny is confident that when all the facts are known the allegations against him will be disproven,” Matthai said.

Olympic champions Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and McKayla Maroney are among the more than 350 young women and girls who have said Nassar molested them under the guise of medical treatment. Some of that abuse occurred at the Karolyi Ranch, the site of monthly training camps for the U.S. women’s team. Nassar, the longtime physician for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State, is serving an effective life sentence after pleading guilty to federal child pornography charges and state sexual abuse charges.

t’s not known when Penny ordered the removal of the documents, believed to be gymnasts’ medical records. The Texas Rangers went to the ranch in November 2016 to investigate abuse claims against Nassar, which had come to light two months earlier when Rachael Denhollander contacted The Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Rhonda Faehn, former head of the women’s program, told a Senate committee in June that a USA Gymnastics employee had been asked to retrieve the records. In written follow-up questions, Faehn said that employee, Amy White, “told me she was ordered by Steve Penny to remove the records and bring them back to Indianapolis.”

White told her the records were removed in a “large suitcase and two large boxes,” Faehn said.

Faehn said she did not have direct knowledge of the removal, when it happened or where the records are currently. In July, then-CEO Kerry Perry confirmed Faehn’s account, saying Penny told Amy White to bring back medical records from the ranch. USA Gymnastics did not log them, Perry said.

“Where those documents went from there, I don’t know,” Perry told the committee. “I was also told that there was not a sort of logging in, if you will, of those documents in the organization, but those documents were given to then-CEO Steve Penny.”

She continued, “To my knowledge, they do not exist in our custody.”

Penny was called to testify during the Senate hearing in June, but invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions so as not to incriminate himself. He is named as a defendant in federal lawsuits filed by Raisman and fellow Olympic champion  Jordyn Wieber, as well as in California state court by former gymnasts Mattie Larson and Jeanette Antolin.

“Steve Penny’s indictment and arrest further illustrate what we already knew to be true — under Penny’s leadership, USA Gymnastics went to great lengths to alleviate its institutional liability in response to sexual misconduct by Larry Nassar, when that effort should have been spent protecting young athletes,” Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., who chairs the Senate committee that held the June hearing, said in a statement.

“It is imperative USAG secures leadership that first and foremost supports the well-being of its athletes.”

Penny resigned under pressure from the U.S. Olympic Committee in March 2017 for USA Gymnastics’ handling of abuse cases. Perry resigned last month, also under pressure from the USOC.

“We support law enforcement’s efforts and have fully cooperated with the investigations by the Texas Rangers, Congress and others, and will continue do so,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement Thursday.

Gymnasts have said Bela and Martha Karolyi created a culture of fear and intimidation in the women’s program that allowed Nassar to thrive.

Bela Karolyi was hired in late 1999 to be the first women’s national team coordinator, and Martha replaced him in 2001 and served until after the Rio Olympics in 2016. Monthly training camps were held at their ranch from 2000 until earlier this year.

The ranch is located in the heart of Sam Houston National Forest, where there was little cell phone reception or internet access. The gymnasts said Nassar took advantage of the sparse conditions and intense training environment to groom them, lending a sympathetic ear on tough days and sneaking them snacks. He also had free rein at the facility, the only adult allowed to enter their rooms.

Nassar was indicted in Walker County in June on six counts of sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony. Also indicted was former USA Gymnastics trainer Debbie Van Horn, on one count of sexual assault.

The Karolyis were interviewed at length, but Walker County officials said they found “no corroborated evidence of criminal conduct.”

They did say at the time, however, that the investigation remained opened, and they had asked USA Gymnastics for records and documents.

There may be other charges if more information and access is received .