Olympic gold medalists and former teammates Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber issued powerful impact statements in court Friday at the sentencing of former Team USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. In total, Nassar, 54, is accused of having sexually abused more than 130 of his patients during medical exams between 1998 and 2015. He was sentenced in December to 60 years in prison for child pornography crimes, one of his three criminal cases.
Wieber, 22, had not previously revealed her abuse, saying for the first time Friday that Nassar began touching her inappropriately at the age of 14. "This was when he started performing the procedure that we are all now familiar with," Wieber said, adding: "Nobody was protecting us from being taken advantage of."
Raisman, 23, addressed Nassar directly: "Imagine feeling like you have no power and no voice," she said. "Well you know what, Larry? I have both power and voice, and I am only beginning to just use them."
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Raisman also issued a scathing criticism of the institution that allowed Nassar to abuse her and her teammates. "Your abuse started 30 years ago," she said. "But that's just the first reported incident we know of. If over these many years just one adult listened and had the courage and character to act, this tragedy could have been avoided."
For his sexual conduct charges, Nassar has agreed to a minimum of 25 to 40 years in prison, with a maximum sentence of life. On Thursday, it was reported that more than a dozen Michigan State University employees knew of their colleague's serial sexual abuse. Watch Raisman's powerful testimony in full below. Jeva Lange
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