Page 7 - ARUBA TODAY

A7
U.S. NEWS Thursday 23 November 2017
Olympic gymnastics ex-doctor pleads guilty to sex charges

County calls for a minimum A prosecutor said 125 wom- them a lifetime of healing Nassar molested them with
prison sentence of 25 years, en and girls have filed com- while you spend your life- his hands, sometimes when
but a judge could set the plaints with Michigan State time behind bars thinking a parent was present in the
minimum sentence as high University police. Judge about what you did in tak- room, while they sought
as 40 years. In Michigan, Rosemarie Aquilina told ing away their childhood.” help for gymnastics injuries.
inmates are eligible for Nassar: “You used your po- She called the accus- After the hearing, one of
parole after serving a mini- sition of trust ... in the most ers “superheroes for all of his accusers, Larissa Boyce,
mum sentence. vile way to abuse children. America, because this is an said it was “really hard”
Sentencing was set for Jan. ... I agree that now is a time epidemic.” to look at Nassar in the
12. of healing, but it may take The girls have testified that courtroom.q

Dr. Larry Nassar, 54, appears
in court for a plea hearing in
Lansing, Mich., Wednesday,
Nov. 22, 2017.
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
By DAVID EGGERT
Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A
former doctor accused of
molesting girls while work-
ing for USA Gymnastics and
Michigan State University
pleaded guilty Wednes-
day to multiple charges of
sexual assault and will face
at least 25 years in prison.
Larry Nassar, 54, admit-
ted to abusing seven girls,
mostly under the guise of
treatment at his Lansing-
area home and a campus
clinic. All but one of his ac-
cusers was a gymnast. He
faces similar charges in a
neighboring county and
lawsuits filed by more than
125 women and girls. Nas-
sar lost his license to prac-
tice medicine in April.
Olympic gymnasts Aly Ra-
isman, McKayla Maroney
and Gabby Douglas are
among the women who
have publicly said they
were among Nassar’s vic-
tims.
Some of his accusers at-
tended the hearing
Wednesday in a packed
Ingham County court-
room. Some were crying.
“For all those involved ...
I’m so horribly sorry that
this was like a match that
turned into a forest fire out
of control,” Nassar said . “I
pray the rosary every day
for forgiveness. I want them
to heal. I want the commu-
nity to heal.”
Nassar admitted to digital-
ly penetrating the victims,
agreed that his conduct
had no legitimate medical
purpose and that he did
not have the girls’ consent.
The plea deal in Ingham