Larry Nassar, the former gymnastics doctor accused of molesting 265 women and girls, has been transferred to a maximum-security federal prison that offers a sex-offender program, the Bureau of Prisons website shows.
Nassar, 54, started serving a 60-year federal sentence for possession of child pornography at the U.S. penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona. In the unlikely event he outlasts that sentence, he would be transferred to Michigan to begin serving two 40-year state sentences for the sexual abuse of 10 girls.
USP Tucson is part of the system’s Sex Offender Management Program, which means it has a higher proportion of sex-offenders on site and also offers treatment.
The longtime team doctor for USA Gymnastics, Nassar also had a busy sports medicine practice at Michigan State University. He pleaded guilty to abusing patients under the guise of treatments, though later denied in a jailhouse letter and interview that his procedures were sexual.
Although the criminal cases against Nassar are over, the fallout from the scandal continues. Congress, the NCAA, the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Michigan attorney general have launched investigations into USA Gymnastics’ and Michigan State’s handling of accusations against Nassar.
During nine days of sentencing hearings, some victims said they reported Nassar as far back as 1997 but were ignored until the Indianapolis Star unmasked him as a predator in the fall of 2016.
This week, Michigan State — under the leadership of interim president John Engler — took steps toward firing Nassar’s former boss, William Strampel. Next week, the faculty will decide on a vote of no-confidence in the board of trustees.