Getty Images; Reuters
Larry Nassar, the former team doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, pled guilty in November to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual abuse for molesting young female athletes, most of them teens, under the guise of medical treatment. More than 150 women, including Olympic gold medalists, have accused Nassar of abuse — including inserting his ungloved fingers into their vaginas and rectums — that spanned decades. Several women have criticized MSU and the gymnastics governing body for allowing Nassar’s abusive behavior to continue.
As part of his sentencing hearing Ingham County Circuit Court, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina allowed anyone who wished to deliver a victim impact statement to address Nassar — and 168 did in the seven-day hearing.
Most women delivered their statements, often crying. Victims’ loved ones also addressed him, including a mother whose daughter committed suicide almost 10 years ago.
Here are some of the most powerful comments from the 133 people who spoke publicly. This list does not include the dozens of women who spoke anonymously.
Kyle Stephens
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Kyle Stephens
“Little girls don’t stay little forever, they grow into strong women that return to destroy your world.”
Jessica Thomashow
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Jessica Thomashow
“What you did to me was twisted. You manipulated me and my family. How dare you.”
Donna Markham
(Speaking on behalf of her daughter, Chelsey, who committed suicide 10 years ago.)
“In 2009, she took her own life. She couldn’t deal with the pain anymore. Every day I miss her, every day. It all started with him."
Jade Capua
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Jade Capua
“I am no longer broken by you. Every day I grow a new strength and look into the mirror to see a strong, unbreakable person. Nothing will ever take away what you’ve done to me or to the others that started behind me. However, we can walk free and radiate the strength that we’ve gained from your horrific acts, something you will never be able to do.”
Alexis Moore
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Alexis Moore
“I don’t like the word victim. I am a survivor, but more so I am me. Those 10 years are a part of my story. They have helped define who I am today.”
Olivia Cowan
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Olivia Cowan
On Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics:
“If they would have taken action when it was first reported, they would have saved me.”
Nicole Soos
“I thought he was a famous doctor. There was no way he would do anything inappropriately in front of my mom. I was wrong.”
Ashley Erickson with her brothers by her side.
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Ashley Erickson
“Today I can say I'm finally ready to face you … Why did you do this? You were the adult, you were the doctor.”
Rebecca Mark
“He molested me and he molested me with my mom in the room.”
Bethany Bauman
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Bethany Bauman
“I am 100% confident, that if he had not been caught, he would have continued to do this for the rest of his life.”
Kate Mahon
“By publicly speaking out against Larry Nassar, I’m not just speaking out for myself. I’m speaking out for all the girls and women of the past, present and future that have been or will be affected by sexual assault.”
Danielle Moore
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Danielle Moore
“I hope being reduced to a (prison) number will define you as it defined me for so many years. I will no longer be known as a number, and I will be Dr. Danielle Moore.”
Melissa Imire
“Everybody's story that I listened to today is just an echo of everything that I've went through. They're just speaking like it's my voice.”
Megan Halicek ®
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Megan Halichek
“As I stand here, I still flash back to the feelings of fear, laying frozen in his office, my sweating shaking body, adrenaline pumping, painfully clutching the sides of the table, waiting for the sick treatment to be over.”
Jamie Dantzscher
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Jamie Dantzscher
“There is no therapy, no cure for monsters like you. You are pure evil.”
Brianne Randall
“I was a 17 year old that reported your abuse to police in 2004. You used my vulnerability at the time to sexually abuse me. I reported you to police immediately and had a rape kit done … you had the audacity to tell [police] I misunderstood the treatment because I wasn’t comfortable with my body. How dare you? Sadly they took your word instead of mine.”
Anna Ludes
(video statement)
“I felt so special and lucky that Larry Nassar would take the time to help me. But it turned out that he was a molester.”
Lindsey Schuett
(video statement)
“If anyone deserves to never see the light of day again it is this man.”
Marion Siebert
“You hindered the trajectories of our lives that we and our parents worked so very hard for, and changed the rest of our lives in ways that we're still realizing and dealing with every day. This is what makes this crime so heinous.”
Katelyn Skrabis
(statement read on her behalf)
“Nothing can change what Larry Nassar did to me.”
Taylor Stephens
(statement read on her behalf)
“Because of you my life has been forever changed. I have to live with the fact that I am a victim of sexual assault.”
Breanne Rata
(statement read on her behalf)
“My only relief is knowing my picture is no longer on the wall of your Michigan State office.”
Erin Mccann
“I was told over and over again how honored I should feel for seeing Dr. Nassar … It was no honor. It was disgust. I took more than it should have from me.”
Jennifer Rood Bedford wipes a tear as she stands with her husband
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Jennifer Rood Bedford
“The road to healing looks steep from where I am standing now, but I am a warrior.”
Gina Nichols
(on behalf of her daughter, Olympic hopeful Maggie Nichols)
“You are not a real doctor. You are a serial child molester, a pedophile.”
Tiffany Lopez Thomas
“I imagine hitting you if I ever had the opportunity to see you again. Instead I will allow my thoughts and my feelings to hit your heart.”
Jeanette Antolin
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Jeanette Antolin
“You made me believe you were my friend. I truly believe you are the spawn of Satan. There's no therapy that will fix the evil that's deep inside you.”
Kayla Spicker
“I was sexually assaulted, but I was unaware, not because I was naive, but because I was a child.”
Gwen Anderson, standing with her former gymnastics coach Tom Brennen.
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Gwen Anderson
“I still remember him saying, 'It's OK. I know you're not used to being touched there, but it will feel better.’”
Thomas Brennan
(Gwen’s coach)
“For the record, go to hell … What you did to everyone else who trusted you and sent girls your way is disgusting, reprehensible, unforgivable.”
Amanda Tomashow
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Amanda Thomashow
“Larry, the thing you didn't realize when you were sexually assaulting me ... was that you were building an army of survivors who would ultimately expose you for who you are. From this rubble we will rise as an army of female warriors.”
Jaime Doski
“I want to show my family how strong I am and that I’m a survivor.”
Jenelle Moul
“I hope you are never able to walk outside those [prison] walls as a free man. Most importantly i hope all of the survivors you hurt are able to heal from the damage you have done.”
Madeleine Jones
Jeff Kowalsky / AFP / Getty Images
Madeline Jones
“Before every appointment, I cried in the bathroom. After every appointment, I couldn’t wait to get home and shower.”
Amanda Barterian
“I refuse to let Larry Nassar take anything more from here. He’s already taken enough.”
Jennifer Hayes with her husband by her side.
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Jennifer Hayes
“You parted my legs and forcefully pushed your dry fingers in my vagina … You had created a secure world where you brainwashed everyone around you.”
Nicole Walker with her borfriend by her side.
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Nicole Walker
“I have anxiety and sleep disorders all because of what you did to me.”
Chelsea Williams with her husband by her side.
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Chelsea Williams
“He manipulated me with such ease, with such finesse. This is perhaps what scares me the most about him.”
Stephanie Robinson
“While I came to this stand as a victim, I leave as victor.”
With her husband by her side, Carrie Hogan delivers a victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing for Larry Nassar.
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Carrie Hogan
“I am broken, I’m tired, I feel like life has been desperately sucked out of me.”
Helena Weick with her mother by her side.
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Helena Weick
“This is not my shame anymore. It's yours.”
Amanda Cormier
“These things happened to me in his office long ago were not short lived and uncomfortable moments, they were lifelong traumas that changed the way I walk in the world.”
McKayla Maroney
(statement read on her behalf)
“He abused my trust. He abused my body and he left scars on my psyche that will never go away. It all started when I was 13 or 14 years old. It didn't end until I left the sport.”
Annette Hill
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Annette Hill
“As your former patient, I trusted you, Larry. You sexually abused me.”
Aly Raisman
Brendan Mcdermid / Reuters
Aly Raisman
“I will not rest until every last trace of your influence on this sport has been destroyed like the cancer it is.”
Lyndsy Carr Gamet
“I was a carefree silly little girl until this happened and afterwards there was a cloud and the cloud has followed me into every relationship in my life, especially the most important ones.”
Taylor Cole
Brendan Mcdermid / Reuters
Taylor Cole
“This man has broken my world.”
Jessica Smith
Brendan Mcdermid / Reuters
Jessica Smith
“I'm mortified that I didn’t understand exactly what that meant at that time.”
Arianna Guerrero
“I am only 16. I should not even know what an impact statement is. I shouldn't know what the inside of a courtroom looks like. You have a hard time looking at me now But you didn't seem to have a problem when I was half naked on your table.”
Nicole Reeb
“[Michigan State University’s] response has compounded my pain. I am frustrated and outraged at the administration's inability to take responsibility for handing over children and girls to a predator for almost 20 years. I no longer bleed green.”
Christine Harrison
“You knew what you were doing was wrong and you only asked for forgiveness because you got caught.”
Jessica Tarrant
(recorded video)
“I wasn’t even alive yet the first time he sexually assaulted someone and I was only one when he was first reported."
Bryant Tarrant
(Jessica’s father)
“I just want to say, Larry, you did nothing to defeat her.”
Mary Fisher Follmer
(on behalf of her two daughters, Katherine Payne and Maureen Payne)
“As you deteriorate in prison, I want you to remember you lost.”
Katie Rasmussen embraces her father after giving a statement.
Brendan Mcdermid / Reuters
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