Nassar victim slams school in earlier case

ANN ARBOR, MICH. » The first woman who publicly accused convicted sports doctor Larry Nassar of sexual abuse said she is “horrified” and “deeply disappointed” with the University of Michigan for how it has handled allegations of abuse by a late doctor at the school.

The university announced last week that five former patients of Dr. Robert E. Anderson alleged he sexually abused them during exams and that a complaint in 2018 led to a police investigation.

“They had the choice 19 months ago to do the right thing and become leaders,” former gymnast Rachael Denhollander said Saturday. “They chose corruption — again — and they put the survivors in a place where they had no choice but to speak publicly.”

Robert Julian Stone said last week that Anderson assaulted him during a medical appointment at the university’s health center in 1971. Stone said he alerted university officials last summer, inspired by the national #Metoo movement against sexual misconduct.

Stone was first interviewed by The Detroit News, which began reporting on the allegations before the university announced its investigation. Stone, 69, said he contacted the newspaper because he felt “stonewalled” by the school when he sought documentation on the investigation.

In announcing the investigation Wednesday, University of Michigan officials said they were making the information public now after a determination the previous day by the Washtenaw County prosecutor’s office that no criminal charges would be authorized because Anderson is dead.

University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said Saturday that the school had been asking the Washtenaw County prosecutor’s office if charges would be coming against Anderson for months and found out Tuesday that none would be authorized.

“I understand why it may look differently to people reading about it, but I can say with complete confidence that we were waiting on the prosecutor to make a decision,” Fitzgerald said.