February 5, 2018
Doctor Larry Nassar, a Michigan sports doctor, was the team doctor for USA Gymnastics from 1996 to 2015 and served as team physician for several sports at MSU from the 1990s to 2015. He also served as a physician for Twistars, a Michigan gymnastics center.
The 53-year-old doctor, who has treated US gymnasts, including Olympic gymnasts, was accused by more than 60 former patients and athletes of sexual abuse during pelvic procedures.
In Ingham County Nassar pleaded pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and admitted to using his position to sexually abuse underage girls. Three of those charges related to victims who were under age 13.
Nassar also plead guilty to 22 counts of criminal sexual conduct in nearby Eaton County, where three females say he molested them with his hands at a gymnastics club during treatments for various injuries, according to a police affidavit. They were young girls or teens at the time.
Five counts involved girls who were under the age of 13 at the time of the alleged abuse. The rest involved girls between ages 13 and 16.
More than half the 22 charges directly related to his work as a doctor at Michigan State University’s Sports Medicine practice and the rest are tied to his work with a gymnastics club.
The detailed, graphic court documents outlined how Nassar allegedly penetrated girls with his fingers under the guise of medical treatment in his office and at a local gym
FBI agents investigating the abuse charges from gymnasts and students found 37,000 child pornography images and videos at his home, some of which he had stored on computer hard drives that he attempted to throw out in a trash bin. The FBI also has video of Nassar allegedly molesting girls in a pool. He’s was accused of the federal crime of possessing child pornography.
Nassar pleaded guilty to the federal charges and was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on the child pornography charges. US District Judge Janet Neff essentially imposed a life prison term on Nassar, sentencing him to 20 years for each of three counts, which are to be served consecutively.
Nassar’s federal sentence won’t start until he completes his sentences for sexual assault, which effectively means the 54-year-old won’t be free again.
Nassar faces at least 25 years in prison in the other cases.
He was fired by MSU in September, following a 2014 complaint by a graduate – though evidence of misconduct was not found. School officials said he violated restrictions that were put on his treatments
He has been stripped of his medical licence.
John Manly, the lawyer for many of Nassar’s alleged victims, said his clients have reported abuse by Nassar beginning as far back as 1996. It was nearly a decade later before MSU or USA Gymnastics conducted their own probes into Nassar’s conduct.
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