CHARLOTTE, Mich. (AP) - The Latest on the third and final sentencing hearing for disgraced former sports doctor Larry Nassar (all times local):
5:30 p.m.
Michigan State University interim President John Engler is urging employees to cooperate and preserve documents as investigators probe the school’s handling of a disgraced sports doctor who sexually abused scores of girls and women.
Engler told university workers in Monday’s memo that “these are likely the most difficult times ever faced by MSU.” But everyone “must commit to preventing any assault, abuse or bullying.”
Michigan State faces numerous state and federal investigations and lawsuits in the wake of Larry Nassar’s sexual crimes against elite gymnasts and many others. A judge on Monday ordered Nassar’s third and final sentence: 40 to 125 years in prison.
The school’s governing board last week unanimously approved Engler as a temporary replacement for Lou Anna Simon, who resigned last month. However, faculty members are planning a no-confidence vote against the board because of its appointment of Engler. They say he lacks academic experience.
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3:05 p.m.
Michigan State has hired Bill Beekman to be the school’s interim athletic director.
Interim school president John Engler made the appointment Monday.
Beekman will keep his role as vice president of the school and secretary of its board when the search begins soon for an AD.
Engler says “no internal candidates will be considered” for the job.
Beekman also has been executive director of the school’s alumni association.
Former Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis retired last week in the wake of the Larry Nassar sex abuse scandal and just before ESPN published a report detailing various allegations involving Michigan State football and basketball players, questioning how the athletic department handled those cases.
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12:50 p.m.
A woman who reported Larry Nassar to Michigan State University’s gymnastics coach two decades ago says she and other victims are “bound for life.”
Larissa Boyce spoke Monday after the former doctor was again sentenced to decades in prison for sexual abuse, this time for abusing patients while he worked with an elite Michigan gymnastics club.
But more than 260 women and girls say he sexually abused them, including while he worked at Michigan State and USA Gymnastics.
Boyce says she feels relief, as if a chapter in her life has ended. But she says she hopes the university and USA Gymnastics will be transparent and “show the world how this was missed, the mistake that were made.”
Boyce has said she and a fellow teenage teammate complained about Nassar in 1997. Boyce says that instead of police or her parents being notified, she was interrogated and led to believe she misunderstood a medical technique.
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10:50 a.m.
One of the first women to publicly accuse former sports doctor Larry Nassar of sexual abuse says victims are now focusing on “institutional dynamics” that allowed the abuse to occur.
Nassar was sentenced Monday to between 40 and 125 years in prison for sexually abusing patients at Twistars, an elite gymnastics club in Michigan. But more than 260 women and girls say he abused them, including while he worked at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics.
Rachael Denhollander said after Monday’s sentencing that victims “wouldn’t be here had the adults and authorities done what they should have done 20 years ago.”
She says victims are now turning their attention “with even greater force to the institutional dynamics that led to the greatest sexual assault scandal in history.”
Denhollander is a Kentucky lawyer who came forward after reading a 2016 Indianapolis Star investigation of how USA Gymnastics handled sexual abuse allegations against coaches.
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10:15 a.m.
The judge who sentenced former doctor Larry Nassar to decades in prison for sexually abusing patients at an elite gymnastics club says the depth of his crimes is “incomprehensible.”
Judge Janice Cunningham sentenced Nassar on Monday to between 40 and 125 years in prison. The case focused on sexual assaults at Twistars, a gym for elite gymnasts in Eaton County, Michigan.
But more than 260 women and girls say Nassar sexually abused them under the guise of medical treatment while he worked with Twistars, Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics.
Some victims say the abuse occurred decades ago.
Cunningham says Nassar’s conduct “spans the country and the world.” She told Nassar she didn’t believe “there is a likelihood that you could be reformed.”
Nassar told the court: “It’s impossible to convey the breadth and depth of how sorry I am to each and every one.”
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9:45 a.m.
Former sports doctor Larry Nassar has been sentenced to 40 to 125 years in prison, marking his final criminal punishment in a sex abuse scandal that has roiled Michigan State University and major U.S. sports associations.
A judge sentenced Nassar on Monday morning in a case out of Eaton County, Michigan. The case centers on sexual assaults at Twistars, a gym for elite gymnasts.
But more than 260 women and girls say Nassar sexually abused them under the guise of medical treatment. Some of the women say the abuse occurred decades ago.
The 54-year-old Nassar has admitted that he molested girls and young women during his time also working at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians.
Nassar was sentenced earlier this month to 40 to 175 years in prison in a separate Michigan case. He also was previously sentenced to 60 years in federal prison for child pornography crimes.
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9:30 a.m.
A prosecutor says disgraced former sports doctor Larry Nassar deserves the “blame and shame” for molesting girls, not their parents.
Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis used a portion of her closing argument Monday at Nassar’s sentencing hearing to speak about people questioning parents’ role in not detecting Nassar’s sexual assaults under the guise of medical treatment.
She says victim shaming and parent shaming “must stop.” She says Nassar was believed by authorities for years and “each time he got away, he was empowered to continue and perfect his abuse.”
She asked the judge to sentence Nassar to 40 to 125 years in prison. He already is guaranteed to spend life in prison under other sentences.
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12 a.m.
A former sports doctor already facing the rest of his life in prison will get a third and final sentence in a sexual assault scandal that involves more than 260 victims.
Larry Nassar is returning to court Monday in Eaton County, Michigan. He listened to dozens of victims last week and was almost attacked by a man whose three daughters said they were molested.
The 54-year-old Nassar pleaded guilty to penetrating girls with his hands when they sought treatment for injuries at Twistars, a gymnastics club. He worked for Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians.
Nassar recently was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison in a separate but related case. He also was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison for child pornography crimes.
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