CHARLOTTE, Mich. (AP) — 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.