Nassar sentenced to another protracted jail term

CHARLOTTE, Mich. — The worst sex-abuse case in sports history ended Monday with a third long prison sentence for Larry Nassar, and his victims vowed to keep fighting for accountability in the scandal that upended the gymnastics world and raised alarms about the sport’s ask-noquestions culture.

Nassar admits penetrating young girls and women with ungloved hands while claiming to be treating them for back and hip injuries. He often saw young gymnasts, but a judge noted Monday that the 260-plus victims were in fine arts and other sports, too.

Long after the disgraced doctor is locked up in a federal prison, investigations into his misconduct will go on, perhaps for years.

“We have taken care of one perpetrator. We have not taken care of the systems that allowed him to flourish,” said Rachael Denhollander, who filed a police report in 2016 about how Nassar had molested her 16 years earlier, when she was 15, with her motherin the room.

The latest sentence of 40 to 125 years was for molesting young athletes at Twistars, an elite Michigan gymnastics club. The sentence is largely symbolic because Nassar, who pleaded guilty, is already assured of spending the rest of his life behind bars. Before serving his two state terms, the 54-year-old must first serve 60 years in federalprison for child pornographycrimes.

Anastonishing 250-plus women and girls gave statements in two Michigan courtrooms over 10 days of proceedings. The focus will soon shift to lawsuits and multiple probes of Nassar’s actions and those of people around him when he worked for Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, the sport’s governingbody.

Those inquiries include a special prosecutor and a legislative probe in Michigan, a law firm investigating the U.S. Olympic Committee and a Texas Rangers review of claims that Nassar assaulted some of the world’s best gymnasts while they trained southeast of Huntsville.

In a brief statement before he was sentenced, Nassar attempted to apologize.