U.S. Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney is one of dozens of young former USA Gymnastics athletes and other women who have accused former Team USA physician Larry Nassar of sexual assault. More than 180 victims, including many from Nassar’s clinic at Michigan State University, say they were assaulted by Nassar over more than two decades.
Here are 10 things to know about Nasser:
- Nassar was fired by USA Gymnastics in the summer of 2015 over "athlete concerns," according to NBC News, but the team waited five weeks before reporting him to the FBI.
- Nassar pleaded guilty last July to three charges in a federal child pornography case, including collecting thousands of images of children, and trying to hide it from investigators by deleting the material, according to MLive.
- His sentencing in the child porn case is scheduled for Dec. 7, and although each charge carries up to a possible 20-year sentence, under a plea agreement Nassar is facing up to 27 years in prison, The Washington Post reported.
- Nassar has been in federal custody since late last year, after he was arrested and charged with three counts of criminal sexual conduct with a person under 13, according to USA Today.
- The physician is still facing 33 criminal sexual conduct charges in Michigan, USA Today reported, and convictions on those charges could carry a life sentence.
- The criminal charges and civil lawsuits involve dozens of women gymnasts, other female athletes, and women patients all ranging in age from their teens to their early 20s, according to news reports, and date back to 1994, two years before Nassar was hired by the U.S. national gymnastics team.
- Nassar was still treating athletes and children at Michigan State University in August of 2016, even though he had been terminated by USA Gymnastics and Team USA the previous year, and even though MSU had received complaints about Nasser dating back to 2014, NBC News reported.
- Nassar, an osteopathic physician, is 53 years old and the father of three children.
- He spent 30 years as a volunteer physician for USA Gymnastics and treated gymnasts at the Summer Olympics, according to The Washington Post.
- Nassar was employed at Michigan State University in the School of Osteopathic Medicine, where the majority of sexual assault complaints have occurred, and where he treated gymnasts and college athletes.
Olympic Gold Medal Gymnast ‘I Was Molested By Team Usa Doctor For 7 Years’
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