Since my last Nassar post, we have learned the FBI has uncovered over 37,000 images and videos of child pornography kept on his computer at his home in Holt, Michigan. Some of the videos actually show the former Michigan State University doctor sexually assaulting girls under the age of 12. In the indictment records, it was revealed that during a nearly 14-year period, Nassar compiled thousands of images of child pornography including those of someone as young as 6 years old. Some of this evidence was discovered in a garbage can on Nassar’s property. Forensic computer investigation also reveals apparent attempts to clear information that had been stored on hard drives.
I have now talked to over a half dozen victims and survivors. Some girls under 18, others young women in their 20s, and their parents. Their stories are eerily similar. The grooming would begin when they were only 8 or 9 at Twistars, an elite gymnastics club. He would have them call him “Larry” instead of “Dr. Nassar.” He would spend hours and hours there building up the trust of these vulnerable young girls and their parents, while having the validation of being employed by Michigan State University since 1996 and also working for USA Gymnastics. I have been told about consistent accounts of what would happen to them right in the MSU Sports Medicine Clinic, even while parents were present, as he methodically positioned his unsuspecting and trusting prey right there, as he conducted his heinous abuse of trust and sexually deviant misconduct. This perpetrator would do this time and again at Twistars as well and if you can believe this, he would also lure these girls and young women to his home, with their parents’ knowledge due to the trust that was developed and the failure of MSU and Twistars to report information to the authorities as complaints were raised. Yes, some of this child pornography were videos he would take of the girls who trusted him.
Based on court filings, as early as 1999, a MSU student athlete began reporting to trainers and her coach, who were employees of MSU, concerns about Dr. Nassar’s conduct and “treatment,” yet MSU failed to take any action in response to her complaints. In 2000, another MSU student athlete reported to trainers concerns about him, yet again no action was taken by MSU in response to her complaints. Because MSU took no action to investigate the 1999 or 2000 complaints, and took no corrective action from 2000 to 2016, under the guise of “treatment” dozens and perhaps 100s of girls and young women, many of whom were minors, were also sexually assaulted, abused, and molested by Nassar by nonconsensual vaginal and anal digital penetration, nonconsensual sexual touching of the vaginal and anal area without gloves, and nonconsensual touching and groping of their breasts. MSU didn’t sever its relationship with Dr. Nassar until September 2016 despite hundreds of complaints made over almost 2 decades.
In fact, once this information was made public, I wanted to alert these victims and survivors that they weren’t alone by placing a TV ad on WLNS, which read:
Attention Michigan Residents: Have you or a loved one experienced sexual assault, molestation, or digital penetration while a patient of former MSU Dr. Larry Nassar? Call me for a free consultation.
However, pressure was brought to prevent me from using MSU in the ad and the ad couldn’t even use the term “digital penetration,” despite what these girls and young women suffered and that every piece of news coverage, print and media, used the term. My hope is that MSU, unlike Penn State University for way too long, will own their responsibility, not use legal maneuvering to escape accountability for what happened during their watch. Too many lives have been affected forever not to be properly compensated.
