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T H E G R A N D R A PI DS P RES S
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MLIVE SPECIAL REPORT
Dr. Larry Nassar, a former sports medicine doctor for Michigan State University and U.S. gymnastics, is in federal custody on receipt and possession of child pornography charges and faces three charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a family friend allegedly abused from the age of 6 until she was 12. Dozens of other women have filed criminal and/or civil complaints alleging sexual abuse or other misconduct dating back to at least 1994 and continuing into 2016. Becky Shink, Lansing State Journal, via AP files
THE SILENT TREATMENT
MSU doctor’s alleged sexual assault victims talked for 20 years. Was anyone listening? Julie Mack and Emily Lawler jmack1 @mlive.com, elawler@mlive.com
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or two decades, he was a household name in the gymnastics community, a star in sports medicine and a sought-after physician at Michigan State University. He treated top athletes, such as Kerri Strug and Jordyn Wieber, and had a stellar reputation for sports-injury prevention and athlete rehab. He was the team doctor for U.S. gymnasts at four Olympics. He
was beloved for his warm and disarming manner, which put even shy teenage girls at ease. If there was a dark side to Dr. Larry Nas-
sar, almost nobody saw it. His golden career has come crashing down in the past five months. Today, Nassar is in federal custody on receipt and possession of child pornography charges, and faces three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a family friend allegedly abused from the age of 6 until she was 12. Dozens of other women have filed criminal and/ or civil complaints alleging sexual abuse or other misconduct dating back to at least 1994 and continuing into 2016. All the alleged victims, in both the criminal and civil cases, are women. “It’s Penn State all over again,” alleges Brian McKeen, a Detroit attorney representing one of the women. “You have the same kind of institutional failures, involving multiple victims violated by a trusted staffer.” Nassar, 53, has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges. His attorney, Matthew Newburg, declined comment for this story, and neither Nassar nor his attorney have responded in court documents to the civil lawsuits. That it took so long to thoroughly investigate the accusations around Nassar remains one of the most troubling aspects of the burgeoning sex scandal, say alleged victims and their lawyers interviewed by MLive. Over the years, some of Nassar’s alleged victims say they were telling parents, coaches, counselors, MSU athletic trainers — even police — that, without consent or explanation, Nassar was digitally penetrating them in the vagina
“This was all avoidable, if someone had just taken action back in 1997 when this was first reported.” John Manly, an attorney working with some of Nassar’s accusers
and anus during medical treatments for back, hip and other injuries. Yet again and again, the women’s accounts were viewed with skepticism, the women claim. “I feel like I didn’t do a good job protecting those who came after me,” said Tiffany Thomas Lopez, who says she was abused in 1999 and 2000 while she was a softball player at MSU. “But I did speak up, on more than one occasion.” It’s not just Nassar’s reputation at stake. Also engulfed in the controversy are MSU, where Nassar was a faculty member and practitioner at MSU’s sports-medicine clinic from 1997 until he was fired last September; USA Gymnastics, the sport’s national governing body, where Nassar started as an athletic trainer in 1986 and served as chief medical coordinator and U.S. team doctor from 1996 to 2015; and Twistars, a high-profile USA Gymnastics training facility in the Lansing area, which referred athletes to Nassar. All three organizations are named as co-defendants in some of the lawsuits. MSU, the only entity to employ Nassar, denied the university had knowledge of any complaints prior to 2014 and said it had not protected Nassar, according to MSU spokesman Jason Cody. In an email to members of the MSU community, university President Lou Anna K. Simon addressed the allegations and said MSU has taken a “proactive approach.” SEE SILENT, D2