By Steve Friess

CHARLOTTE, Mich. (Reuters) – Former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to an additional 40 to 125 years in prison on Monday for molesting young female gymnasts, capping weeks of horrifying testimony from nearly 200 victims about his decades of abuse.

Nassar, who previously received a 40-to-175-year sentence in Ingham County, Michigan, for sexual assault, was sentenced in neighboring Eaton County on Monday on a second set of charges. He is also serving a 60-year federal term for child pornography convictions.
The doctor offered a brief apology to his victims on Monday, saying, “The visions of your testimonies will forever be present in my thoughts.”

But Eaton County Circuit Judge Janice Cunningham said Nassar had again suggested in a pre-sentencing interview with authorities that his conduct was legitimate medical treatment.

“I am not convinced that you truly understand that what you did was wrong, and the devastating impact that you have had on the victims, their families and friends,” she told Nassar. “Clearly you are in denial. You don’t get it.”

As Cunningham delivered Nassar’s sentence on Monday, Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to make her allegations of abuse public in 2016, smiled broadly and squeezed her husband’s hand. After Nassar was led out in handcuffs, a parade of victims lined up to hug and thank Denhollander.

“I‘m just ready for it to be over,” Bailey Lorencen, who was abused by Nassar as a preteen gymnast, told Reuters. “It’s finally done.”

“SOULS OF LITTLE CHILDREN”
Athletes were drawn to Nassar for treatment due to his reputation as the go-to doctor for Olympic gymnasts. He disguised his digital penetration of victims as “intravaginal adjustment,” a legitimate treatment sometimes used to relieve pain.

In both Ingham and Eaton counties, girls and women gave wrenching and powerful accounts of how Nassar abused them, sometimes with their own parents present in the exam room. Many said they spoke out to heal their own wounds and prevent future sexual abuse, many choosing to testify only after watching fellow survivors express a sense of catharsis.

Friday’s hearing was briefly interrupted when Randall Margraves, whose three daughters were all Nassar victims, tried to attack Nassar in the courtroom before being tackled by officers.
Prosecutors have said there are approximately 265 known victims in total, including Olympic gold medalists like McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman.

The scandal surrounding Nassar has reverberated far beyond the sports world, sparking various investigations into why the U.S. Olympic Committee, sport governing body USA Gymnastics, and Michigan State University, where he also worked, failed to investigate complaints about him going back years.

High-level officials at USA Gymnastics and Michigan State have been forced to resign in recent weeks. The U.S. Olympic Committee has launched an investigation into its own conduct as well as that of USA Gymnastics.