'Traumatized and broken:' Victims of gymnastics doctor detail abuse in court

CHARLOTTE, Mich. (Reuters) - Jessica Thomashow was a 9-year-old gymnast who still liked playing with American Girl dolls when USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar first molested her, she said in a Michigan courtroom on Wednesday.

“You took advantage of my innocence and trust,” the 17-year-old high school student told Nassar, as he sat, eyes cast downward, in an orange prison jumpsuit. “Why? I ask myself that question all the time, especially when I am lying in bed, crying myself to sleep.”

Over and over, women and teenagers stood on Wednesday to recount similar stories of abuse: Nassar, the famous physician who treated Olympic stars, played the role of caring doctor before sexually assaulting them in his exam room under the guise of medical treatment, sometimes with their own parents present.

Nassar, 54, previously pleaded guilty to two sets of abuse charges in Michigan’s Ingham and Eaton counties. He was sentenced last week to 40 to 175 years in prison in the Ingham County case after more than 150 victims including Olympic gold medalists recounted abuse at his hands in an emotionally wrenching week-long hearing.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gymnastics-usa-nassar/traumatized-and-broken-victims-of-gymnastics-doctor-detail-abuse-in-court-idUSKBN1FK1CS?