After Sexually Abusing 156 Women, Dr. Larry Nassar Says He’s the Real Victim

Before he was sentenced to a maximum of 175 years in prison, serial sexual abuser Dr. Larry Nassar on Wednesday defended his medical “treatment” of young female athletes by telling the judge his patients “came back over and over” to him.

The judge, disgusted, threw the letter back in his face.

“I wouldn’t send my dogs to you, sir,” said Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina. “Based on the numbers that go unreported, I can't even imagine how many vulnerable children and families you actually assaulted.”

“I was a good doctor,” the former USA Gymnastics physician wrote in his letter. “Those patients that are now speaking out are the same ones that praised and came back over and over.”

The letter followed seven full days of victim-impact statements from a final tally of 168 survivors and family members whose lives were ripped apart by Nassar’s actions.

The 54-year-old doc earlier pleaded guilty to a total of 10 counts of criminal sexual conduct, seven in Ingham County and another three in Eaton County. He will be sentenced for the final three charges next. In a separate case, he was sentenced to 60 years in prison for child pornography.

“The media convinced them that everything I did was wrong and bad,” Nassar whined in the letter, despite his earlier guilty pleas. “They feel I broke their trust. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

And the judge rained hell down on him.

“I’ve just signed your death warrant,” Aquilina said after delivering Nassar’s hefty sentence in the Michigan courtroom. “As much as it was my honor and privilege to hear the sister survivors, it is my honor and privilege to sentence you. You do not deserve to walk outside of a prison again.”

Throughout the seven days of impact statements, Nassar cried, shook, and hung his head during testimony—but he remained stoic when his sentence was finally read out.

In total, 156 of those statements were from victims themselves. His alleged victims include revered Olympians like Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, Gabby Douglas, and Simone Biles.

“I find that you don’t get it, that you’re a danger. That you remain a danger,” Aquilina said during his sentencing, in which she offered Nassar no possibility of parole or probation. “Sir, you do not deserve to walk outside of prison ever again.”

Last week, Nassar wrote a similarly emboldened letter to Aquilina claiming that the practice of listening to the victim impact statements was proving too “stressful” for his heart.

Nassar did, however, offer a mild apology in a brief statement Wednesday, turning to face his victims, and conceding that their words “have shaken me to my core.”

“There are no words that can describe the depth and breadth of how sorry I am for what has occurred,” he said. “An acceptable apology to all of you is impossible to write and convey. I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days.”

Rachael Denhollander, the first person to publicly accuse Nassar of sexual abuse, was the last to give her victim-impact statement in court on Wednesday. Denhollander said she was 15 when Nassar groped, fondled, and penetrated her with his hands in 2000.

“At 15, I believed that the adults at [Michigan State University] surrounding Larry would do the right thing, if they were aware of what Larry was doing. And I was terribly wrong,” Denhollander said.

Aquilina lauded the young woman’s courage when victim impact statements concluded on Wednesday.

“You made this happen,” the judge told her. “You are the bravest person I’ve ever had in my courtroom.”