On Tuesday, the Board of Trustees of Meridian Township unanimously authorized the hiring of an independent investigator to review the township's handling of a 14-year-old case related to Larry Nassar.
In 2004, Nassar survivor Brianne Randall-Gay told Meridian Township police that she'd been molested by Nassar. But the police department did not forward her complaint to the Ingham County prosecutor.
Earlier this year the township publicly apologized for mishandling Randall-Gay's case.
Meridian Police Chief Ken Plaga said the goal of the new investigation is to learn from what happened, do better, and help everyone move forward.
In 2004, Plaga was a member of the Meridian Township Police Department. But he was not the chief.
Plaga said the new probe comes after the township conducted its own investigation and implemented new police training.
"If there was something else that were to come to light that didn't come to light initially, you would definitely see us take action," said Plaga.
"An outside investigator can come in, take a look at what was done, what wasn't done, verify that the mistakes that were made, that we've outlined and identified, are indeed what happened," said Plaga. "And just provide closure to everybody that there's not some underlying thing that was missed or overlooked."
Plaga said Randall-Gay requested the external investigation and selected the private investigator, Ken Oulette. Oulette is retired from the East Lansing Police Department.
The Meridian Township Board approved the contract for Oulette to conduct the investigation for a minumum of $3,000 and a maximum of $4,500.
