Ex-doctor pleads guilty to sex charges

Sentencing was Jan. 12.

A prosecutor said 125 women and girls have filed complaints with Michigan State University police.

Judge Rosemarie Aquilina told Nassar: “You used your position of trust in the most vile way to abuse children. I agree that now is a time of healing, but it may take them a lifetime of healing while you spend your lifetime behind bars thinking about what you did in taking away their childhood.”

She called the accusers “superheroes for all of America, because this is an epidemic.”

The girls have testified that Nassar molested them with his hands, sometimes when a parent was present in the room, while they sought help for gymnastics injuries.

After the hearing, one of the accusers, Larissa Boyce, said it was “really hard” to look at Nassar in the courtroom.

“This was a man we trusted. He's admitting what he did was wrong and evil,” she said.

Separately, Nassar is charged with similar crimes in Eaton County, the location of an elite gymnastics club. He also is awaiting sentencing in federal court on child pornography charges.

The Michigan criminal cases against Nassar followed reports last year in the Indianapolis Star about how USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians, mishandled complaints about sexual misconduct involving the doctor and coaches.

Women and girls said the stories inspired them to step forward with detailed allegations of abuse, sometimes when their parents were in the exam room at Michigan State. set for