Larry Nassar pleads guilty in controversial plea deal

Former USA Gymnastics women’s Olympic and national team physician Larry Nassar pleaded guilty on Tuesday to three federal child poography related charges as part of a plea bargain that has found Justice Department officials under mounting criticism by many of Nassar’s alleged victims.

Former Olympic and World Championship gymnasts who allege they were sexually abused by Nassar as teenagers continued to condemn a decision by the U.S. Attoey’s office to agree as part of the deal not to prosecute Nassar, 53, on sexual exploitation of children charges.

Nassar pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court Weste District of Michigan to receiving child poography, possessing child poography and destruction of evidence. U.S. District Judge Janet Neff could order Nassar to serve his sentences consecutively later this year. Nassar is scheduled to be formally sentenced on Nov. 27.

“Victims and the public can be assured that a day of reckoning is indeed in Dr. Nassar’s future,” acting U.S. Attoey Andrew Birge told reporters after the hearing.

But several of Nassar’s alleged victims and their families and attoeys charge that in by not pursuing sexual exploitation charges against Nassar, federal officials have betrayed former gymnasts and other young athletes and sent a message that will discourage future sexual abuse victims from coming forward.

The U.S. Attoey’s office in Michigan included a non-prosecution agreement as part of the deal in which they agree “not to further prosecute” Nassar “for sexual exploitation and attempted sexual exploitation of children,” according U.S. District Court documents.

Those instances, the agreement said, are “related to conduct” that took place in Nassar’s swimming pool in the summer of 2015 involving two minors and “interstate and inteational travel with intent and engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places.”

“It doesn’t seem fair that after everything we’ve done to try and expose what happened to us, put ourselves out there, it seems like it was all for nothing because now Larry is not even getting charged with the molestation cases,” said Jeanette Antolin, a Marina High grad and UCLA All-American.

Antolin alleges Nassar routinely sexually abused her while she was a teenage member of the U.S. national team between 1997 and 2000. Nassar, under the guise of providing medical treatment, repeatedly inserted his ungloved fingers into Antolin’s vagina, sometimes twice a day, she said.

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“I sacrificed my childhood to compete for the United States throughout the world,” Antolin said. “The doctor they assigned to treat me betrayed my trust. Now the federal govement is giving him a free pass for his alleged assaults on me and many other child athletes. That’s not justice.”

Nassar received child poography between Sept. 18 and Dec. 1, 2004, according to court documents. He also possessed thousands of images or videos of child poography between 2003 and 2016, some of which “involved a minor who had not attained 12 years of age,” the plea agreement said. The agreement also alleges Nassar paid $49 to have his computer cleaned on Sept. 19, 2016 at a local computer store. A day later federal agents found his computer hard drives in trash cans Nassar had placed on the street outside his home for collection.

Nassar still faces state criminal sexual abuse charges in Michigan and civil lawsuits filed by more than 100 former young gymnasts and other underage athletes who allege Nassar routinely sexually abused them even as they were competing at or training for the Olympic Games and World Championships.

He is also under investigation by the Texas Rangers, who are looking into allegations that Nassar routinely sexually abused underage gymnasts training for the Olympic Games, World Championships and other inteational competitions at the remote Karolyi Ranch located in Texas’ Sam Houston National Forest. The ranch was designated as the U.S. Olympic Training Center for women’s gymnastics by the USOC in 2011.

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