A federal judge declared former gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar a threat to children Thursday morning and sentenced him to 60 years in prison on child pornography charges — essentially a life sentence for the 54-year-old former physician.
Nassar is also awaiting sentencing for 10 state counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which he pleaded guilty to in November.
Several of the women who say Nassar abused them filled the federal courtroom with their families in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as Judge Janet T. Neff told Nassar that he had violated the most basic principle of medicine: first do no harm. She said he used his position of authority to sexually assault scores of young women during a decades-long career as a renowned doctor with USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University.
“It’s imperative Mr. Nassar be deterred as long as possible,” Neff said before delivering the maximum allowable sentence for his three federal crimes. “Mr. Nassar was, is and, in my view, will continue to be a danger to children. He has demonstrated that he should never again have access to children.”
Nassar pleaded guilty in July to charges of obtaining and possessing child pornography as well as an additional charge of attempting to destroy evidence. He was first indicted on the child pornography charges last December. Each of the three charges against him come with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Neff ordered him to serve each of those 20-year sentences consecutively, meaning, if he is still alive, Nassar will be 114 years old when the last of them is finished.
For more details: espn.com
