A former USA Gymnastics team doctor who is accused of sexually abusing two gymnasts faces 16 more abuse complaints at a university where he was a faculty member.
The Indianapolis Star obtained Michigan State University police reports filed this month and concerning abuse allegations made since 1996, the year in which Dr Larry Nassar was appointed team doctor for USA Gymnastics.
The newspaper cited interviews with four women who say Nassar penetrated them with his finger during what were supposed to be medical treatments.
Nassar has not been charged and denies wrongdoing. His attorneys said in a statement that he had used a legitimate medical procedure as shown in police videos.
Nassar’s former attorney had told the Star, with his client present, that his client had never used any procedure involving vaginal penetration.
“Dr Nassar is not changing his story in any way,” his new attorneys said in a statement to the newspaper. “Those [police] videos demonstrate the exact procedures he used to treat patients and clearly show penetration according to the legal definition.”
Nassar was suspended by MSU in August and fired last week, for not complying with “certain employment requirements”. A university spokesman told the Star he did not know of any other allegations or investigations into medical personnel at any MSU clinic.
In a lawsuit filed in California, Nassar was accused of sexually groping and fondling an unnamed Olympic gymnast.
The civil suit also names USA Gymnastics and the organization’s current and past presidents, alleging that the governing body “ignored and/or actively concealed the abuse that was being perpetrated” by Nassar.
Another woman filed a complaint last month with university police.
Earlier this month, in a statement to the Guardian regarding the California case, attorney Matthew Borgula said: “Dr Nassar denies any misconduct relating to any gymnast, patient or anyone else. To the extent he provided medical treatment to anyone, that treatment was always done with the consent of the patient.
“He is proud of his 29 years of volunteer service with USA Gymnastics.”
John Manly, attorney for the plaintiff in the California case, told the Guardian: “Our country failed this woman. USA Gymnastics failed this woman.
“My phone has been blowing up all day with other victims of Dr Nassar. Dr Nassar did this to a lot of people over a long time.”
