[Sport] Former US gym coach commits suicide hours after being accused of sexual assault and human trafficking

[SougarLord]

 

New blow to American gymnastics. John Geddert, coach of the United States women's gymnastics team at the 2012 Olympics, committed suicide Thursday after being accused of sexual assault against multiple young women, according to the Michigan state prosecutor's office. "My office has been notified that John Geddert's body was found this afternoon after taking his own life," State Attorney Dana Nessel said in a message on her Twitter account. "This is a tragic end to a tragic story for all the people involved," she added without giving further details of the event.

 

On Thursday morning, the prosecutor announced that Geddert, 63, was going to face 24 charges for physical, verbal and sexual abuse of a score of victims committed between 2008 and 2018 at his Twistars gymnastics club, located near Lansing ( Michigan). In that club, Larry Nassar, former doctor of the national gymnastics team, worked as a doctor, who was the protagonist of one of the biggest scandals in American sports when it was known that he sexually abused more than 200 athletes over two decades, crimes for which was sentenced in 2018 to between 40 and 125 years in prison.

 

Geddert was scheduled to appear in court on Thursday afternoon. The prosecution charged the former coach with two counts of first-degree sexual assault, both related to an unidentified athlete between the ages of 13 and 16, with penalties that could go up to life imprisonment.

 

Furthermore, the prosecution alleges that Geddert's treatment of the young gymnasts could constitute human trafficking "since he apparently subjected his athletes to forced labor or services under extreme conditions that contributed to their injury and damage." "Geddert neglected at that time those injuries that were reported to him by the victims and used coercion, intimidation, threats and physical force to get them to act at the level that he expected," the prosecution said.

 

Geddert was investigated as a result of his close personal and professional relationships with Nassar, who used to commit the abuses under the pretext of his medical treatment. Among Nassar's victims were several high-level gymnasts, including four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles. Many of these young women accused Geddert, who was also gymnast Jordyn Wieber's personal trainer, of forcing them to undergo Nassar's treatments.

 

INVESTIGATED IN 2018

Following the investigation against Nassar, the American federation (USA Gymnastics) suspended Geddert in 2018, who immediately announced his retirement and denied having knowledge of the doctor's crimes. However, during Nassar's trial hearings, in which some 200 women, adolescents and relatives of victims presented their shocking personal stories, Twistars gymnasts reported having endured physical and verbal abuse by Geddert.

 

Amy Preston, the mother of an unidentified Nassar victim who was trained in Twistars, said in court that her daughter was the victim of emotional abuse by Geddert and that this situation was exploited by Nassar to gain trust with the young gymnast. "John Geddert was as brutal as claimed, and Larry was so kind, a combination that turned out to be very toxic and deadly," Preston described.

 

Geddert was also accused of making false or misleading statements to the authorities investigating Nassar, denying his knowledge of the crimes. The prosecution emphasized that this was the only charge against Geddert specifically linked to Nassar and that, otherwise, "the crimes attributed to Mr. Geddert are his own."

 

Following Nassar's sentencing, the American gymnastics federation offered a compensation plan totaling $ 215 million that was criticized by some of the victims, including Simone Biles and fellow Olympic medalist Aly Raisman, who demanded an investigation. independent to determine if others were responsible for allowing the abuses.

 

These cases weren't the only scandals surrounding the successful American gymnastics team. In April 2020, former coach Maggie Haney was suspended for eight years for verbal abuse and mistreatment of athletes, whom she forced to train even if they suffered injuries.