But the anguish of the past week will have little, if any, practical effect on Nassar's fate. Before serving the Michigan sentence, the 54-year-old must first serve a 60-year federal sentence for child pornography crimes. With credit for good behavior, he could complete that sentence in about 55 years. By then, he would be more than 100 years old if still alive.</s>As a freshman on the Michigan State University softball team, Tiffany Thomas Lopez went to Larry Nassar, the school sports therapist, for back pain. Nassar’s “special treatment”—a technique he’s used on many of his patients, including U.S. Olympic gymnasts—involved him inserting his fingers into her vagina. Thomas Lopez thought something seemed off. But when she reported the behavior to Destiny Teachnor-Hauk, an MSU athletic trainer, she said Teachnor-Hauk told her not to worry: This was “actual medical treatment.” “She brushed me off, and made it seem like I was crazy,” Thomas Lopez told ESPN. Last week, almost 100 women shared similar stories about Larry Nassar in a county courtroom in Lansing, Michigan. Many of them were MSU students—and, according to a recent Detroit News investigation, at least six reported the abuse to university administrators. All said they received versions of the same response: “He’s an Olympic doctor.” “No way.” You “must be misunderstanding what was going on.” A 2014 Title IX investigation reached a similar conclusion: Nassar’s conduct “was not of a sexual nature.” Kristine Moore, the university’s Title IX investigator, said the women likely did not understand the “nuanced difference” between proper medical procedure and sexual abuse.

We now know that investigation failed to uncover an extensive history of abuse. Last November, Nassar pleaded guilty to 10 counts of first-degree criminal sexual misconduct. He’s been sentenced to 60 years in prison for child pornography—with a harsher sentence likely to follow in the wake of his sentencing hearings this month. The Nassar case is now being called “the largest sexual-abuse scandal in the history of sports,” dwarfing even the Sandusky case at Pennsylvania State University and the Art Briles case at Baylor University. Students claim that at least 14 MSU officials, including University President Lou Anna K. Simon, knew about it and didn’t take action. “The testimony of Nassar's victims this week made many of us, including me, listen to the survivors and the community in a different way,” Simon wrote in a memo to the MSU community Friday. She said the school has “taken a hard look at ourselves to learn from what happened.” In that spirit, she announced that MSU is creating a $10 million fund to help survivors. The MSU Board of Trustees has also asked Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette to conduct his own review of the Nassar case. In a letter to Schuette, the attorney for MSU Patrick Fitzgerald said evidence would show that, at the time, no MSU official believed Nassar committed sexual abuse. Over two decades, students say they told MSU administrators, explicitly and more than once, that Nassar was sexually abusing them during medical appointments. They listened to women describe the rubbing back and forth, the digital penetration that sometimes lasted 15 minutes, the ungloved hands. But when those women said there was a problem—that this didn’t feel right, that they were hurt—the administrators didn’t believe them.

Pain is inherently subjective—it’s impossible to see exactly how much someone is hurting. In the absence of clear physical indicators like a bleeding wound or a broken bone, the degree to which it’s taken seriously correlates with the degree to which the patient is trusted. And women are trusted less than men. With the same symptoms, men are more likely than women to be prescribed painkillers, while women are more likely to go home with sedatives. One study found that women waited an average of 65 minutes in the emergency room to receive analgesics. For men, the average wait was 16 minutes shorter.
• How Doctors Take Women's Pain Less Seriously
• Al Franken, That Photo, and Trusting the Women In a 2015 Atlantic essay, Joe Fassler describes how his wife waited in the ER in excruciating pain for almost two hours before someone gave her a medical exam. When asked to respond, female readers shared similar stories. “I’ve had (male) doctors suggest that my pain is just stress,” wrote one reader who eventually learned she had chronic pancreatitis. “He said all I needed was a bubble bath and a good rubdown.” “The Girl Who Cried Pain,” a commonly cited 2001 study, concludes that women are “more likely to have their pain reports discounted as ‘emotional’ or ‘psychogenic’ and, therefore, ‘not real.’” “Because women are more likely to share more of their emotions when communicating their experience of pain, doctors may view their pain reports as more psychologically based. They view them a little suspiciously,” said Diane Hoffmann, a professor of health-care law at the University of Maryland and a coauthor of the study.

Women have long been viewed as excessively emotional. Take, for example, the origins of “hysteria”—a word we now associate with emotional excess and coming unhinged. In the fifth century BC, Hippocrates, the Greek physician often called the Father of Medicine, coined the term to refer to a disease contracted exclusively by women in which, disoriented from a lack of sex, the uterus would detach and move freely around the body. This common malady would bring on anxiety, convulsions, and the illusion of being suffocated: intense physical distress that mostly manifested itself inside a woman’s head. While the definition of hysteria evolved over time—hysterical neurosis was removed from the DSM-III in 1980—the word “hysterical” is still often associated with women. As is the word “hypochondriac.” Nineteenth- and early 20th-century literature is rife with swooning women, suffering from dramatic fainting spells for no apparent reason. Women, more so than men, have to prove there is something wrong with their bodies. Without tangible evidence, women fear proving the stereotypes right—of appearing weak, excessively dramatic. When she was abused by Nassar, Jennifer Rood-Bedford, a former MSU volleyball player, remembers thinking that she didn’t want to seem childish. She said she’d lay there on his table, wondering, “Is this okay? This doesn’t seem right.” She told herself, “Don’t be a baby.”

It’s not just that female patients aren’t trusted enough—but also that doctors play a special, godlike role in society, and are trusted too much. “From the time we are little, we are taught to trust doctors,” Aly Raisman, a gold medalist on the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team, wrote in a recent statement directed to Nassar. Professional and Division I athletes, in particular, depend on doctors for their livelihoods. Raisman said she felt guilty for thinking badly of someone in his position. “I wouldn’t allow myself to believe the problem was you.” As MSU students reported the Nassar abuse, their pain was questioned at multiple levels: first, by the administrators they confided in, and second, by the Title IX investigators deployed to ensure the situation had been handled correctly. It wasn’t until the first allegations against Nassar became public in the summer of 2016 that the university fired him. While a few administrators who knew about the abuse have been suspended or asked to resign, many, including Simon, have yet to face any official repercussions from Michigan State. When the 98 victims gathered at the sentencing hearing last week, they created a powerful antidote to the gaslighting so many of them have experienced. Both in the courtroom and on social media, the women recognized the depth of each other’s pain. After decades of being made to feel like they were crazy, together, they made it clear they’d known exactly what they were talking about all along.</s>Larry Nassar, Former Team USA Doctor, Sentenced to 40 to 175 Years in Prison for Sexual Abuse

Larry Nassar, Former Team USA Doctor, Sentenced to 40 to 175 Years in Prison for Sexual Abuse

Larry Nassar has been sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting athletes under his care. After a seven-day hearing in the Ingham County, Michigan, courtroom, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina finally handed the sentencing to the former Team USA Gymnastics and Michigan State Universit...

Larry Nassar has been sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting athletes under his care.

After a seven-day hearing in the Ingham County, Michigan, courtroom, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina finally handed the sentencing to the former Team USA Gymnastics and Michigan State Universit...</s>Following days of “show no mercy” victim statements from dozens of female athletes who were sexually abused by Larry Nassar, the ex-Team USA doctor’s sentencing has finally happened. Nassar had complained that he didn’t have the mental ability to withstand these statements, which were relatively few, considering that he pleaded guilty to molesting over 150 women and girls during his time with USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University. On Wednesday, Nassar attempted an emotional appeal for leniency, and Judge Rosemarie Anguilina lambasted him as insincere.

We’ll get to that in a moment, but first, it’s worth highlighting how Anguilina announced Nassar’s sentence — 40 to 175 years. With a hint of glee in her voice, Anguilina began tallying the sentence in open court:

“It is my honor and privilege to sentence you. Because sir, you do not deserve to walk outside of a prison ever again … It is my privilege on counts one, two, five, eight, 10 and 18 and 24 … to sentence you to 40 years … that’s 480 months … I’m giving you 175 years, which is 2,100 months … I have just signed your death warrant.”

Prior to the sentencing, Nassar’s counsel expressed that he would defend him again, despite receiving death threats, because defendants have the Sixth Amendment right to counsel. However, he stated that “Larry’s soul is broken,” and then Nassar gave a short statement to his victims:

“Your words these past several days have had a significant emotional effect on myself and has shaken me to my core. There are no words to describe the depth and breadth of how sorry I am for what has occurred. An acceptable apology to all of you is impossible to write and convey. I will carry your words for me for the rest of my days.”

Anguilina told Nassar that she hoped he meant what he said, but she wasn’t confident of that prospect. To prove her point, she read a letter from Nassar — in which he complained that he was being treated unfairly and even wrote “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” (which received audible gasps) — aloud.

Anguilina was disgusted, and she asked Nassar if he wished to withdraw his plea. He answered in the negative, and Anguilina described his acts as “despicable” and bashed him for claiming in his letter that his treatments were “medical,” not abuse. Anguilina then declared, “I wouldn’t send my dogs to you.”

First and Second Picture Courtesy of Jeff Kowalsky and Getty Images

First and Second Tweet and Video Courtesy of CNN, Twitter, and Uproxx

Third Video Courtesy of CNN, Dailymotion, and Uproxx</s>Larry Nassar, the USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor who has admitted to abusing girls and women who were receiving treatment from him, was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison on Wednesday.

"I just signed your death warrant," Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said, in her Lansing, Mich., courtroom.

It was one dramatic statement among many from the judge, a capstone to days of powerful and emotional testimony from more than 150 women and girls who say they were abused by Nassar. Aquilina allowed scores of accusers to give victim impact statements during the sentencing, and she said she took their statements into account, explaining that the others who spoke added to the credibility of the seven whose cases were before her.

Nassar, who has admitted to molesting multiple girls and women who were under his care, had already been sentenced to 60 years in prison on separate federal child pornography charges.

During the proceedings, Aquilina read portions of a letter that Nassar had given her a couple of months after entering his plea, but she refused to read it in its entirety. "There is some information here which troubles me in regards to the victims," she said. "I don't want them re-victimized by the words in the letter."

In the parts that were read aloud, Nassar criticized a federal judge as going "ballistic" in sentencing him to 60 years, and he continued to defend his actions.

"I was a good doctor, because my treatments worked and those patients that are now speaking out are the same ones that kept coming back over and over," she read from the letter.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," the letter went on, to gasps from the courtroom. "It is a complete nightmare." He wrote that the FBI had investigated him in 2015 but didn't file charges "because it was medical."

Aquilina looked to Nassar and said, "Would you like to withdraw your plea? Because you are guilty, aren't you?" He replied that he had said his plea.

"I wouldn't send my dogs to you, sir," she said. "There's no treatment here, sir. You finally told the truth. Inaction is an action. Silence is injustice." Nassar looked stricken during the judge's remarks.

Before receiving the sentence, Nassar had struck a more conciliatory tone. He addressed the victims, often going off mic as he turned around to face them.

"There are no words that can describe the depth and breadth of how sorry I am for what has occurred," said Nassar. "I will carry your words with me for all of my days."

Rachael Denhollander was the first person to file a criminal complaint against Nassar in 2016.

"I am very grateful for Judge Aquilina and the care she has shown to all of us," Denhollander told reporters outside the courthouse after the sentence was handed down. She said she was not surprised by the number of victims, "because that's how pedophiles operate."

In earlier courtroom testimony, Denhollander called Nassar "the most dangerous type of abuser," projecting a wholesome image while carefully grooming his victims.

U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun released an open letter apologizing for Nassar and for not being present for the athletes' testimony.

"We have said it in other contexts, but we have not been direct enough with you," he wrote. "We are sorry for the pain caused by this terrible man, and sorry that you weren't afforded a safe opportunity to pursue your sports dreams. The Olympic family is among those that have failed you."

USA Gymnastics CEO Kerry Perry, who took leadership of the organization on Dec. 1, 2017, released a statement that called Nassar's crimes "despicable" and pledged to create a culture that empowers and supports athletes.

"I am profoundly saddened that a single woman, a single girl, a single athlete was hurt. USA Gymnastics applauds Judge Rosemarie Aquilina for handing Nassar the maximum sentence of up to 175 years, in an effort to bring justice to those he abused and punish him for his horrific behavior," she wrote. "I will not [waver] on my commitment to focus each and every day on our organization's highest priority — the safety, health and well-being of our athletes."</s>LANSING, Mich. — The former sports doctor who admitted molesting some of the nation’s top gymnasts for years under the guise of medical treatment was sentenced Wednesday to 40 to 175 years in prison by a judge who proudly told him, “I just signed your death warrant.”

“It is my honor and privilege to sentence you. You do not deserve to walk outside a prison ever again. You have done nothing to control those urges and anywhere you walk, destruction will occur to those most vulnerable,” Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said.

Nassar’s actions were “precise, calculated, manipulative, devious, despicable,” she said.

When the hearing ended, the courtroom broke into applause. Victims and prosecutors embraced at the conclusion of the grueling 16-month case.

But the anguish of the past week will have little, if any, practical effect on Nassar’s fate. Before serving the Michigan sentence, the 54-year-old must first serve a 60-year federal sentence for child pornography crimes. With credit for good behavior, he could complete that sentence in about 55 years. By then, he would be more than 100 years old if still alive.

He is also scheduled to be sentenced next week on more assault convictions in Eaton County, Michigan.

A prosecutor called Nassar “possibly the most prolific serial child sex abuser in history” and said competitive gymnastics provided the “perfect place” for his crimes because victims saw him as a “god.”

Prosecutor Angela Povilaitis also said Nassar “perfected a built-in excuse and defense” as a doctor, even though he was “performing hocus-pocus medicine.”

“It takes some kind of sick perversion to not only assault a child but to do so with her parent in the room, to do so while a lineup of eager young gymnasts waited,” Povilaitis said.

She urged people to believe young victims of sexual abuse no matter who they accuse and praised journalists, including those at the Indianapolis Star. The newspaper’s 2016 investigation of how the sport’s governing body handled sexual abuse allegations against coaches prompted a former gymnast to alert the paper to Nassar.

Although Nassar’s work with gymnasts received the most attention, the allegations against him spanned more than a dozen sports over 25 years.

At one point, Nassar turned to the courtroom gallery to make a brief statement, saying that the victims’ accounts had “shaken me to my core.” He said “no words” can describe how sorry he is.

“I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days” he said as many of his accusers wept.

The judge then read from a letter that Nassar had written to her that raised questions about whether he was truly remorseful. The victims who packed the courtroom gasped as they heard passages that included “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” and another in which Nassar said the “stories” about him were fabricated.

He also defended his actions with the athletes as “medical, not sexual.”

“I was a good doctor because my treatment worked, and those patients that are now speaking out were the same ones that praised and came back over and over, and referred family and friends to see me,” Nassar wrote.

One of the first athletes to publicly accuse Nassar of sexual assault was the last victim to offer a statement at the hearing.

Rachael Denhollander is a Kentucky lawyer who stepped forward in 2016 after the sport’s governing body, USA Gymnastics, was accused of mishandling sexual assault complaints. She said Nassar groped and fondled her when she was a 15-year-old gymnast in Michigan.

Denhollander’s statements to Michigan State University police put the criminal investigation in high gear in 2016.

“You have become a man ruled by selfish and perverted desires,” she told Nassar, who worked at the university and USA Gymnastics, which also trains Olympians.

Hours after the sentencing, MSU President Lou Anna Simon said she was resigning amid mounting pressure over the way the university handled the Nassar case. That came shortly after Michigan lawmakers voted overwhelmingly for a nonbinding House resolution that sought her removal over allegations that the school missed chances to stop Nassar.

In her resignation letter, Simon said as tragedies are politicized, blame is inevitable. She acknowledged she was a natural focus of the anger as president.

Simon, who earned her doctorate at Michigan State in 1974, was promoted to school president in 2005.

Nassar pleaded guilty to assaulting seven people in the Lansing area, including in the basement of his home and at his campus office. But the sentencing hearing was open to anyone who said they were a victim.

Accusers said he would use his ungloved hands to penetrate them, often without explanation, while they were on a table seeking help for various injuries.

The accusers, many of whom were children, said they trusted Nassar and were in denial about what was happening or were afraid to speak up. He sometimes used a sheet or his body to block the view of any parent in the room.

Several elite former gymnasts talked about how Nassar won their allegiance with candy, Olympic trinkets and encouraging words while they were under constant scrutiny from demanding coaches.

The judge praised the victims who appeared in her court, calling them “sister survivors.” The women included Olympians Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber and McKayla Maroney.

The judge also called for a broader investigation into how the abuse was allowed to go on for so long. She said justice “requires more” than what she can do.

The CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee soon announced an independent inquiry. Scott Blackmun said the third-party investigation will attempt to determine “who knew what and when.”

Brooke Hylek, a gymnast who plans to compete in college, heaped scorn on Nassar.

“I cannot believe I ever trusted you, and I will never forgive you,” she said Tuesday. “I’m happy you will be spending the rest of your life in prison. Enjoy hell by the way.”

Born in Farmington Hills, Michigan, 54-year-old Nassar graduated from University of Michigan with a degree in kinesiology in 1985.

The following year he joined the USA Gymnastics team’s medical staff as an athletic trainer.

Disgraced doctor Nassar also ran a clinic and gymnastics club at Michigan State University.

In November, 2017, Nassar admitted to digitally penetrating seven girls, mostly under the guise of treatment at his Lansing-area home and a campus clinic, between 1998 and 2015.

The wife of the former MSU and Team USA Gymnastics doctor charged with several counts of sexual assault against former athletes and patients has filed for divorce.

According to court documents, Stefanie Nassar filed for divorce on January 25. She is also asking for custody of the three children she and Larry Nassar share.</s>LANSING, Mich. – The former sports doctor who admitted molesting some of the nation’s top gymnasts for years was sentenced Wednesday to 40 to 175 years in prison as the judge declared: “I just signed your death warrant.”

The sentence capped a remarkable seven-day hearing in which scores of Larry Nassar‘s victims were able to confront him face to face in a Michigan courtroom.

Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said Nassar’s “decision to assault was precise, calculated, manipulative, devious, despicable.”

READ MORE: Ex-gymnast says Larry Nassar molested her in his basement while she had a broken leg

“It is my honour and privilege to sentence you. You do not deserve to walk outside a prison ever again. You have done nothing to control those urges and anywhere you walk, destruction will occur to those most vulnerable.”

Nassar found competitive gymnastics to be a “perfect place” for his crimes because victims saw him as a “god” in the sport, a prosecutor said Wednesday, shortly before the former doctor was to be sentenced for years of molesting Olympic gymnasts and other young women.

“It takes some kind of sick perversion to not only assault a child but to do so with her parent in the room,” prosecutor Angela Povilaitis said. “To do so while a lineup of eager young gymnasts waited.”

She described the “breadth and ripple” of Nassar’s sexual abuse as “nearly infinite.”

READ MORE: ‘How dare you ask for forgiveness?’: Female gymnasts confront Larry Nassar at sex assault trial

“What does it say about our society that victims of sexual abuse have to hide their pain for years when they did nothing wrong? What does it say about our society when victims do come forward … and are treated as liars until proven true?” Povilaitis said.

Nassar turned to the courtroom gallery to make a brief statement, saying that the accounts of more than 150 victims had “shaken me to my core.” He said “no words” can describe how sorry he is for his crimes.

“I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days” he said as many of his accusers wept.

He faces a minimum prison term of 25 to 40 years.

One of the first athletes to accuse Nassar of sexual assault was the last victim to offer statements at his sentencing hearing.

Rachael Denhollander is a Kentucky lawyer who stepped forward in 2016 after the sports’ governing body was accused of mishandling complaints of sexual assault. She said Nassar groped, fondled and penetrated her with his hands when she was a 15-year-old gymnast in Michigan.

Denhollander’s statements to Michigan State University police put the criminal investigation in high gear in 2016.

“You have become a man ruled by selfish and perverted desires,” she told Nassar, who worked at the university and USA Gymnastics, the governing body that also trains Olympians.

Nassar, 54, pleaded guilty to assaulting seven people in the Lansing area, but the sentencing hearing has been open to anyone who said they were a victim. His accusers said he would use his ungloved hands to penetrate them, often without explanation, while they were on a table seeking help for various injuries.

The accusers, many of whom were children, said they trusted Nassar to care for them properly, were in denial about what was happening or were afraid to speak up. He sometimes used a sheet or his body to block the view of any parent in the room.

“I’d been told during my entire gymnastics career to not question authority,” a former elite gymnast, Isabell Hutchins, said Tuesday.

The judge is likely to be unsparing in her treatment of Nassar. Aquilina has praised the victims who have appeared in her court since Jan. 16, calling them “sister survivors,” while also assuring them that their perpetrator will pay. The women have included Olympians Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber and McKayla Maroney.

“Your words are vital. They are as strong as your martial arts,” Aquilina told Christina Barba, who has known Nassar for decades and practices karate. “They will take him down quicker and cleaner than any kick you’ve got.”

Hutchins and Mattie Larson, a former national gymnast, talked about how Nassar won their allegiance with candy, Olympic trinkets and encouraging words while they were under constant scrutiny from demanding coaches.

Brooke Hylek, a gymnast who plans to compete in college, heaped scorn on Nassar.

“I cannot believe I ever trusted you, and I will never forgive you,” she said Tuesday. “I’m happy you will be spending the rest of your life in prison. Enjoy hell by the way.”

“I want you to apologize to me right here,” the 18-year-old told Nassar. “I want to forgive you, but I also want to hear you tell me that you regret all the hurting you caused.”

He did. She replied with, “Thank you.”

Nassar has already been sentenced to 60 years in federal prison for child pornography crimes. He is scheduled to be sentenced next week on more assault convictions in Eaton County, Michigan.</s>LANSING, Mich. — The former sports doctor who admitted molesting some of the nation’s top gymnasts for years under the guise of medical treatment was sentenced Wednesday to 40 to 175 years in prison by a judge who proudly told him, “I just signed your death warrant.”

The sentence capped a remarkable seven-day hearing in which more than 150 of Larry Nassar’s victims offered statements about the physician who was renowned for treating athletes at the sport’s highest levels. Some confronted him face to face in the Michigan courtroom.

“It is my honor and privilege to sentence you. You do not deserve to walk outside a prison ever again. You have done nothing to control those urges and anywhere you walk, destruction will occur to those most vulnerable,” Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said.

Nassar’s actions were “precise, calculated, manipulative, devious, despicable,” she said.

When the hearing ended, the courtroom broke into applause. Victims and prosecutors embraced at the conclusion of the grueling 16-month case.

But the anguish of the past week will have little, if any, practical effect on Nassar’s fate. Before serving the Michigan sentence, the 54-year-old must first serve a 60-year federal sentence for child pornography crimes. With credit for good behavior, he could complete that sentence in about 55 years. But by then, he would be more than 100 years old if still alive.

He is also scheduled to be sentenced next week on more assault convictions in Eaton County, Michigan.

A prosecutor called Nassar “possibly the most prolific serial child sex abuser in history” and said he found competitive gymnastics to be a “perfect place” for his crimes because victims saw him as a “god.”

Prosecutor Angela Povilaitis also said Nassar “perfected a built-in excuse and defense” as a doctor, even though he was “performing hocus-pocus medicine.”

“It takes some kind of sick perversion to not only assault a child but to do so with her parent in the room. To do so while a lineup of eager young gymnasts waited,” Povilaitis said.

She urged people to believe young victims of sexual abuse no matter who they accuse and praised journalists, including those at the Indianapolis Star, who were among the first to report on the allegations.

Although Nassar’s work with gymnasts received the most attention, the allegations against him spanned a dozen sports over 25 years.

Nassar turned to the courtroom gallery to make a brief statement, saying that the victims’ accounts had “shaken me to my core.” He said “no words” can describe how sorry he is for his crimes.

“I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days” he said as many of his accusers wept.

The judge then read from a letter that Nassar had written to her that raised questions about whether he’s truly remorseful. The victims who packed the courtroom gasped as they heard passages that included “Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned” and another statement in which Nassar said the “stories” about him were fabricated.

He also complained about the sentence he had been given in the child-pornography case and defended his actions with the athletes as “medical, not sexual.”

“I was a good doctor because my treatment worked, and those patients that are now speaking out were the same ones that praised and came back over and over, and referred family and friends to see me,” Nassar wrote.

One of the first athletes to publicly accuse Nassar of sexual assault was the last victim to offer a statement at the hearing.

Rachael Denhollander is a Kentucky lawyer who stepped forward in 2016 after the sport’s governing body was accused of mishandling complaints of sexual assault. She said Nassar groped and fondled her when she was a 15-year-old gymnast in Michigan.

Denhollander’s statements to Michigan State University police put the criminal investigation in high gear in 2016.

“You have become a man ruled by selfish and perverted desires,” she told Nassar, who worked at the university and USA Gymnastics, the governing body that also trains Olympians.

Nassar pleaded guilty to assaulting seven people in the Lansing area, but the sentencing hearing was open to anyone who said they were a victim. Accusers said he would use his ungloved hands to penetrate them, often without explanation, while they were on a table seeking help for various injuries.

The accusers, many of whom were children, said they trusted Nassar to care for them properly and were in denial about what was happening or were afraid to speak up. He sometimes used a sheet or his body to block the view of any parent in the room.

Several elite former gymnasts talked about how Nassar won their allegiance with candy, Olympic trinkets and encouraging words while they were under constant scrutiny from demanding coaches.

The judge praised the victims who appeared in her court, calling them “sister survivors.” The women included Olympians Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber and McKayla Maroney.

The judge also called for a broader investigation into how the abuse was allowed to go on for so long. She said justice “requires more” than what she can do.

The CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee soon announced an independent inquiry. Scott Blackmun said the third-party investigation will attempt to determine “who knew what and when” when it came to Nassar.

Brooke Hylek, a gymnast who plans to compete in college, heaped scorn on Nassar.

“I cannot believe I ever trusted you, and I will never forgive you,” she said Tuesday. “I’m happy you will be spending the rest of your life in prison. Enjoy hell by the way.”

Associated Press Writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.</s>Once a world-renowned sports physician treating America’s foremost Olympic women gymnasts, Larry Nassar now will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

The disgraced former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison, a judge announced Wednesday, after more than 150 women and girls said in court that he sexually abused them over the past two decades.

“I’ve just signed your death warrant,” Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said in a Lansing, Michigan, courtroom. “I find that you don’t get it, that you’re a danger. That you remain a danger.”

Nassar had pleaded guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct in Ingham County in Michigan and admitted to using his trusted medical position to assault and molest girls under the guise of medical treatment.

He offered a short statement in court Wednesday, apologizing and saying that hearing seven days of victim impact statements had shaken him to his core.

“There are no words that can describe the depth and breadth of how sorry I am for what has occurred,” Nassar said. “An acceptable apology to all of you is impossible to write and convey. I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days.”

But before delivering her sentence, Aquilina read aloud a letter Nassar wrote to the court recently in which he defended his medical care, said he was “manipulated” into pleading guilty, and accused the women of lying.

“I was a good doctor because my treatments worked, and those patients that are now speaking out are the same ones that praised and came back over and over,” Nassar wrote. “The media convinced them that everything I did was wrong and bad. They feel I broke their trust. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

The letter “tells me you still don’t get it,” Aquilina said.

The sentence brings to an end a wrenching seven days of victim impact statements as part of Nassar’s plea deal.

A total of 156 victims spoke, recounting similar stories of how they went to Nassar to receive treatment for sports injuries, and he sexually assaulted them, telling them it was a form of treatment.

“The breadth and ripple of this defendant’s abuse and destruction is nearly infinite,” Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis said in her remarks before the sentencing.

Many of the women said that when they spoke up about the treatment, they were ignored or their concerns brushed aside by organizations in power, primarily USA Gymnastics, Michigan State University and the US Olympic Committee.

The final speaker was Rachael Denhollander, the former gymnast who first made Nassar’s abuse public in a September 2016 story in the Indy Star. She meticulously laid out the ways that the systems failed her and other women and allowed this abuse to continue for so long.

“Women and girls banded together to fight for themselves because no one else would do it,” she said.

Nassar sat and listened on the witness stand, sometimes hiding his head in his hands or wiping away tears with a tissue.

Separately, he has already been sentenced to 60 years in prison for federal child pornography charges. He also has pleaded guilty to three charges of criminal sexual conduct in Eaton County in Michigan and is due to be sentenced on those charges on January 31.

Between the three sentences, Nassar, 54, will never get out of prison, Aquilina said.

But the judge reminded everyone in the courtroom that the focus of the week-long sentencing hearing was the victims — or survivors, as many have called themselves. One by one, women and their families came forward to confront Nassar and explain how he used his respected position to molest young, injured girls seeking medical treatment.

The women — almost all of whom initially met Nassar for a sports-related injury — said that, because of the abuse, they struggled with anxiety, depression and instances of self-harm. Others said they no longer trust doctors or that they shrink from any physical touch.

“Sexual abuse is so much more than a disturbing physical act,” Kyle Stephens, the first victim to speak, said last week. “It changes the trajectory of a victim’s life, and that is something that nobody has the right to do.”

But the women also showed remarkable resolve and bravery, staring down Nassar in court and calling out the systems of power that protected him for more than two decades. The victims include some of the most famous Olympic gymnasts in American history, including gold medalist Aly Raisman, as well as athletes at Michigan State University and at USA Gymnastics.

“We, this group of women you so heartlessly abused over such a long period of time, are now a force, and you are nothing,” Raisman said. “The tables have turned, Larry. We are here. We have our voices, and we are not going anywhere.”

Court officials initially expected 88 victims to speak in court. But that number nearly doubled over the course of the sentencing hearing as more and more women came forward, inspired to speak out by what Raisman termed an “army of survivors.”

“We were ultimately strong enough to take you down,” Kaylee Lorincz said on Wednesday. “Not one by one, but by an army of survivors. We are Jane Does no more.”

Though the sentencing marks the end of Nassar’s time in the public eye, it has focused critical attention on USA Gymnastics, the US Olympic Committee and Michigan State University, the institutions that employed Nassar for about two decades. A number of women have accused the organizations of turning a blind eye to Nassar’s abuse and even pressuring outspoken victims into silence.

“Michigan State University, the school I loved and trusted, had the audacity to tell me that I did not understand the difference between sexual assault and a medical procedure,” Amanda Thomashow said in court. “That master manipulator took advantage of his title, he abused me, and when I found the strength to talk about what had happened I was ignored and my voice was silenced.”

All three organizations have denied wrongdoing and said they reported the sexual abuse allegations to authorities once they learned about them.

Still, the fallout at those organizations moved slowly and then all at once. In the past week, USA Gymnastics cut ties with the Karolyi Ranch, the training facility where the abuse happened, and three leaders of its board stepped down under pressure.

Michigan State University asked the state attorney general to investigate its response to the abuse, and President Lou Anna Simon has faced calls for her resignation.</s>LANSING, MI - JANUARY 17: Larry Nassar listens to victim impact statements during his sentencing hearing after being accused of molesting more than 100 girls while he was a physician for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University where he had his sports-medicine practice on January 17, 2018 in Lansing, Michigan. Nassar has pleaded guilty in Ingham County, Michigan, to sexually assaulting seven girls, but the judge is allowing all his accusers to speak. Nassar is currently serving a 60-year sentence in federal prison for possession of child pornography. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

LANSING, Mich. (AP) – A judge has told a Michigan sports doctor accused of sexually assaulting women and girls, “I just signed your death warrant.”

The remarks from Judge Rosemarie Aquilina came as she sentenced Larry Nassar to 40 to 175 years in prison.

The sentence capped a remarkable seven-day hearing that brought more than 150 victims or their families to court, including Olympians.

They made riveting statements while confronting Nassar in a Lansing, Michigan, courtroom. He worked at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians.

Nassar had pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting seven females in the Lansing area between 1998 and 2015, but the hearing was open to all of his accusers.

His accusers said he would molest them while they were on a table seeking help for various injuries. Nassar also has a 60-year prison sentence for child pornography crimes.

The judge who sentenced a Michigan sports doctor to decades in prison read a letter that raises questions about whether he’s truly remorseful.

A courtroom packed with victims gasped Wednesday as Judge Rosemarie Aquilina read Larry Nassar’s letter, which was written before the seven-day sentencing hearing.

The letter stated, “Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned” and said that “stories are being fabricated” by victims.

After reading the letter, the judge asked Nassar whether he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea. He declined.
Larry Nassar is sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for molesting Olympic gymnasts and other women. Many of the accusers were children, who were told to not question authority.