Former U.S. gymnastics coach dies by suicide after being charged with sex crimes


Former U.S. gymnastics coach John Geddert was found dead just hours after Michigan's attorney general announced 20 human trafficking charges against him.
The head coach of the U.S. gymnastics team at the 2012 Olympics was charged Thursday with 20 counts of human trafficking, including forced labor resulting in injury and trafficking involving a minor, as well as charges of racketeering, lying to police, and criminal sexual contact. Geddert had agreed to turn himself in to police Thursday afternoon, but never showed up, a spokesperson for the attorney general said. Police soon found he had died by suicide.
Geddert had close ties with Larry Nassar, the former team doctor for the U.S. and Michigan State gymnastics teams who was sentenced to more than 100 years in prison for sexually assaulting and abusing patients, many of them minors. Geddert owned Twistars Gym in Michigan, where some of Nassar's victims said he assaulted them. One of the criminal sexual conduct charges also alleges Geddert assaulted a girl under the age of 16.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"John Geddert used force, fraud and coercion against the young athletes that came to him for gymnastics training for financial benefit to him," Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel told reporters Thursday. She then detailed the disordered eating, "suicide attempts and self-harm," and "extreme emotional abuse and physical abuse" the victims say they endured, adding that many "still carry these scars from his behavior to this day."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
The noise of Bitcoin mining is driving Americans crazy
Under the Radar Constant hum of fans that cool data-centre computers is turning residents against Trump's pro-cryptocurrency agenda
-
May 30 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Friday's political cartoons include the Gipper's message to Russia, the U.S. Constitution, TACOS ruining Trump's parade, and grift at the White House.
-
'Wonder drug': the potential health benefits of creatine
The Explainer Popular fitness supplement shows promise in easing symptoms of everything from depression to menopause and could even help prevent Alzheimer's
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC parade
speed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
-
2 Israel Embassy staff shot dead at DC Jewish museum
speed read The suspected gunman chanted 'free, free Palestine'
-
Bombing of fertility clinic blamed on 'antinatalist'
speed read A car bombing injured four people and damaged a fertility clinic and nearby buildings in Palm Springs, California
-
Suspect charged after 11 die in Vancouver car attack
Speed Read Kai-Ji Adam Lo drove an SUV into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day festival
-
Kenya arrests alleged ant smugglers
speed read Two young Belgians have been charged for attempting to smuggle ants out of the country to exotic pet buyers
-
Judge ends Eric Adams case, Trump leverage
Speed Read Federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams were dismissed, as requested by Trump's Justice Department
-
Texas arrests midwife on felony abortion charges
Speed Read Maria Margarita Rojas and an employee at one of her clinics are the first to be criminally charged under Texas' near-total abortion ban
-
South Carolina to execute prisoner by firing squad
speed read Death row inmate Brad Sigmon prefers the squad over the electric chair or lethal injection, his lawyer said