Gymnastics Doc Faces Sex Assault Accusers: Live Stream

LANSING, MI — One of the first of nearly 100 victims testifying in an extraordinary four-day sentencing hearing for disgraced USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar warned him that "little girls don't stay little forever," but instead "grow into strong women ... that destroy your world."

The sentencing hearing that began Tuesday is expected to last through Friday as dozens of women or their advocates give victim impact statements. Nassar’s sentencing on seven first-degree criminal sexual abuse charges comes as another Olympic athlete, gold medalist Simone Biles, adds her name to a long list of gymnasts who said they were molested by the former team doctor under the guise of medical treatment.

Kyle Stephens told Nassar she decided to testify "to let the world know that you are a repulsive liar." She said Nassar rubbed his genitals on her and digitally penetrated her, among other things. He later denied it, and her parents believed him.

Also testifying Tuesday was Donna Markham, who said daughter Chelsey committed suicide in 2009, years after Nassar sexually abused her during a medical examination.
"It all started with him," Markham said, describing her daughter's downward spiral into drugs.

Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina is expected to order a sentence Friday.

The 125 women and girls who spoke with police at Michigan State University, where Nassar was formerly employed were all invited to give victim impact statements and about 88 have said they will speak in open court. The sentencing hearing began Tuesday morning at Ingham County Circuit Court in Lansing, Michigan, where Nassar, 54, pleaded guilty to abusing seven females at MSU, his home and a Lansing area gymnastics club.

Among those expected to testify is 2000 Olympian Jamie Dantzscher, the first Olympian to go public against Nassar. She filed a lawsuit against Nassar in California last September under the name of “Jane Doe,” but gave up her anonymity when she and two other former elite U.S. gymnasts appeared on the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes” last February.

Biles came forward Monday, joining other Olympians Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Gabby Davis, who are among the women who have publicly accused Nassar.

"Most of you know me as a happy, giggly and energetic girl. But lately ... I've felt a bit broken and the more I try to shut off the voice in my head the louder it screams," Biles wrote in a #metoo post on her social media accounts.

Biles said she had been reluctant to tell her story, “but I now know it is not my fault.”

Nassar’s behavior “is completely unacceptable, disgusting, and abusive, especially coming from someone whom I was TOLD to trust,” she wrote.

"I am not afraid to tell my story anymore. I too am one of the many survivors that was sexually abused by Larry Nassar," she continued.

"For too long I have asked myself, 'Was I too naive? Was it my fault?' I now know the answers to those questions. No. No, it was not my fault. No, I will not and should not carry the guilt that belongs to Larry Nassar, USAG [USA Gymnastics], and others."

Nassar accompanied gymnasts to four Olympic Games, ending his tenure with USA Gymnastics in 2015. MSU fired him in September 2016 after he was publicly accused of sexual abuse by two former patients.

In November, when he pleaded guilty to the seven charges on which he will be sentenced this week, Nassar said he believed it was the best way to “stop the hurting.”

“I’m so horribly sorry,” he said. “I want them to heal. I want this community to heal.”

Nassar also pleaded guilty to federal pornography charges and was sentenced to 60 years in prison. In Eaton County, Michigan, he pleaded guilty to three first-degree criminal sexual abuse charges stemming from assaults that occurred at the Twistars gymnastics club.

Watch the live stream below:

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Main Photo by Paul Sacya/The AP