LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Latest on the sentencing of former sports doctor who sexually assaulted athletes (all times local):
Former athlete Nicole Reeb reads her victim statement Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018, in Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina’s courtroom during the third day of victim impact statements regarding former sports medicine doctor Larry Nassar. Nassar, 54, faces a minimum sentence of 25 to 40 years in prison for molesting girls at Michigan State University and his home. (Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal via AP)
5:55 p.m.
USA Gymnastics is ending its long relationship with the Karolyi Ranch.
The organization announced Thursday that it has terminated its agreement to have the ranch outside of Huntsville, Texas, serve as the National Training Center. The decision came three days after Olympic champion Simone Biles expressed dismay at having to attend camps there, where Biles says she was sexually abused by a former national team doctor.
The ranch is the home of former national team coordinator Martha Karolyi and her husband, Bela. USA Gymnastics initially agreed to buy the training facility in August 2016 then backed out of the agreement following an investigation into sexual abuse by former national team doctor Larry Nassar.
Nassar has already been sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on child pornography crimes and is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to molesting girls at Michigan State University and his home.
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5:40 p.m.
A Michigan sports doctor who molested young gymnasts won’t get his prison sentence until next week.
Judge Rosemarie Aquilina has listened to more than 60 victims this week, but there are more to come Friday. She says Larry Nassar will be sentenced Monday or Tuesday in Ingham County court.
Nassar was a doctor at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians. He has admitted that he sexually molested girls who sought treatment for hip and back injuries.
The 54-year-old faces a minimum sentence of 25 to 40 years in prison.
Nassar already has been sentenced to 60 years in prison for federal child pornography crimes. He faces a third sentence later this month for sexual assault at a gymnastics club in Eaton County.
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5 p.m.
Calls are growing for Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon to resign over allegations that the school mishandled complaints about a campus doctor who sexually assaulted young gymnasts.
Three legislative leaders called for Simon to resign or be fired Thursday, as victims continued speaking at Larry Nassar’s sentencing in a courtroom blocks from the state Capitol. A fourth leader previously called for Simon’s resignation.
House Democratic Leader Sam Singh is from East Lansing, where the school is based. He says a lack of leadership at Michigan State “allowed victims to suffer in silence for far too long.”
The top two state Senate leaders say they have lost confidence in Simon.
A university spokesman says the board of trustees appreciates lawmakers’ opinions but still supports Simon, who attended the sentencing Wednesday.
Nassar will not be sentenced until next week to accommodate the many victims who want to speak.
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11:10 a.m.
A Michigan judge has heard from two Olympic gymnasts during a third day of gripping statements from young women who were sexually abused by a sports doctor.
A prosecutor read a statement from McKayla Maroney, who won gold and silver medals at the 2012 Olympics. She says Larry Nassar “left scars on (her) psyche that may never go away.”
Nassar could be sentenced Friday. He admits molesting gymnasts with his hands while working at Michigan State University and at a Lansing-area club. He also was team doctor at USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians.
Judge Rosemarie Aquilina has been hearing from victims since Tuesday. Jamie Dantzscher, a 2000 Olympian, spoke Thursday.
The judge said Nassar wrote a letter complaining about the hearing. She dismissed it as “mumbo jumbo.”
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