Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor, pleaded guilty in a Michigan court on Wednesday to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
In a press statement Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Nassar had pleaded guilty in Michigan’s Ingham County court to felony criminal sexual conduct related to abuse under the guise of medical treatment.
Nassar’s sentencing hearing has been set for January 12 when all of the 125 victims or their parents will be allowed to give victim impact statements.
Nassar was the team physician for the Michigan State University gymnastics and women’s crew teams as well as an associate professor at MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. He served as the USA Gymnastics physician through four Olympic Games.
Nassar had originally been charged with 22 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and 11 counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct at the state level but the Michigan Attorney General’s office agreed not to file additional charges after Wednesday’s plea.
Nassar’s plea deal follows claims by two of the United States’ s most decorated gymnasts Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas that they had been sexually abused by the former USA Gymnastics team doctor.
Three-times Olympic gold medalist Douglas said on Tuesday she was sexually abused by Nassar while Raisman, also a three-times gold medalist, made similar allegations in an interview with CBS News program “60 Minutes” on Sunday.
Judge Rosemarie Aquilina told Nassar: “You used your position of trust … in the most vile way to abuse children. … I agree that now is a time of healing, but it may take them a lifetime of healing while you spend your lifetime behind bars thinking about what you did in taking away their childhood.”
She called the accusers “superheroes for all of America, because this is an epidemic.”
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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.
The plea deal with prosecutors calls for a minimum prison sentence of 25 years but the judge could set the minimum as high as 40 years.
In a statement after the plea in court on Wednesday, Vassar’s attorneys, Matt Newburg and Shannon Smith, said that the “agreement resolves all the charged and uncharged conduct for more than 125 cases currently under investigation by the Michigan Attorney General’s office.”
*with files from the Associated Press
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