![Dr. Larry Nassar appears in District Court Judge Donald Allen Jr.'s 55th District Court for his preliminary hearing Friday, May 12, 2017. Nassar, 53, of Holt faces 15 first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges related to seven different reported victims. [MATTHEW DAE SMITH | Lansing State Journal]](https://talkingpointsmemo.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/AP17325758587593.jpg?w=804)
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A sports doctor accused of molesting girls while working for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University pleaded guilty Wednesday to multiple charges of sexual assault and will face at least 25 years in prison.
Dr. Larry Nassar, 54, was charged with molesting seven girls, mostly under the guise of treatment at his Lansing-area home and a campus clinic. All but one of his accusers was a gymnast. He faces similar charges in a neighboring county and lawsuits filed by more than 125 women and girls.
Olympic gymnasts Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Gabby Douglas are among the women who have publicly said they were among Nassar’s victims.
Some of his accusers attended the hearing Wednesday in a packed Ingham County courtroom.
The plea deal in Ingham County calls for a minimum prison sentence of 25 years, but a judge could set the minimum sentence as high as 40 years. In Michigan, inmates are eligible for parole after serving a minimum sentence.
The girls have testified that Nassar molested them with his hands, sometimes when a parent was present in the room, while they sought help for gymnastics injuries.
“He convinced these girls that this was some type of legitimate treatment,” Assistant Attorney General Angela Poviliatis told a judge last summer. “Why would they question him? Why would they question this gymnastics god?”
Separately, Nassar is charged with similar crimes in Eaton County, the location of an elite gymnastics club. He also is awaiting sentencing in federal court on child pornography charges.
The Michigan criminal cases against Nassar followed reports last year in the Indianapolis Star about how USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians, mishandled complaints about sexual misconduct involving the doctor and coaches. Women and girls said the stories inspired them to step forward with detailed allegations of abuse, sometimes when their parents were in the exam room at Michigan State.
So, anyone think #metoo is still getting out of hand?
This guy ain’t gonna believe what’s in store for him in the big house. If he’d done this to my daughter, he’d pray that he’d be “protected” in prison. What a vile scumbag and deviant.
And yet, Trump is still President.
It seems like gymnastics is pretty much tailor-made for this kind of abuse. Intense competition, father-figure type coaches, trainers and doctors, massive tensions (for young women) between being dedicated athletes and being “pretty” and “feminine” etc. And likely to draw adults with not-precisely healthy interests. (Yeah, a nearby gym changed hands after the owner/manager was discovered to have installed a bathroom camera.)
If he was a Republican running for Senate and “totally denied it” what would the so-called president think?
What I think is that this guy should go straight to hell, and I hope he has a very short life in prison before embarking on that journey.