LANSING, Mich. (AP) – A former U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach with ties to disgraced sports physician Larry Nassar was charged on Thursday with turning his Michigan gym into a multi-year criminal undertaking by forcing girls to train under him and then verbally and physically assault them. abuse.
John Geddert was charged with two dozen crimes, including forms of human trafficking, a move prosecutors acknowledged was an unusual use of Michigan law.
He is also accused of lying to investigators in 2016, when he denied ever hearing complaints about Nassar serving decades in prison for sexually assaulting female athletes in a scandal that killed hundreds and turned American gymnastics upside down.
Geddert, 63, was the head coach of the 2012 Olympic women’s gymnastics team, which won a gold medal. He has long been associated with Nassar, who was the Olympic team’s physician and also treated injured gymnasts at Twistars, Geddert’s Lansing-area gym.
Geddert is charged with recruiting minors for forced labor, a reference to the gymnasts he coached, according to documents filed in a court in Eaton County.
A message was left with Geddert’s lawyer asking for comment. Attorney General Dana Nessel said the coach used “violence, fraud and coercion” for financial gain.
“The victims suffer from eating disorders,” said Nessel, “including bulimia and anorexia, suicide attempts and self-harm attempts, excessive physical conditioning, being repeatedly forced to perform even when injured, extreme emotional and physical abuse, including sexual assault. .
“Many of these victims still bear these scars from this behavior to this day,” said the attorney general.
The charges against Geddert include two charges of sexual assault against a teenager in 2012.
Nessel acknowledged that the case may not fit the common understanding of human trafficking.
“We mainly think of it as people of color or people with no means of protecting themselves … but frankly, it can happen to anyone, anywhere,” she said. “Young impressionable women can at times be vulnerable and open to trafficking crimes, regardless of their status in the community or the financial well-being of their families.”
Assistant Attorney General Danielle Hagaman-Clark said the charges against Geddert have “very little to do” with Nassar.
Geddert was suspended by the Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics during the Nassar scandal. He told families in 2018 that he was retiring.
On his LinkedIn page, Geddert described himself as the ‘most decorated women’s gymnastics coach in Michigan’s gymnastics history.’ He said his Twistars teams have won 130 club championships.
But Geddert was often portrayed in an unflattering way when Nassar’s victims spoke at hearings in 2018.
“What a great best friend John was to Larry for giving him a whole world in which to take advantage so easily,” said Lindsey Lemke, now a coach at the University of Arkansas. You two certainly have a funny meaning of friendship. You, John Geddert, deserve to be behind bars next to Larry too. “
White reported from Detroit.
Nichols is a member of the Corps for the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national nonprofit service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on hidden issues.