"We so trusted this man, my child, Sterling, would not have been there ... if we didn’t implicitly trust him," Kyle Keiser, the mother of Sterling Riethman, one of Nassar's former patients who accused him of sexual misconduct in a civil suit, told ABC News.
"He was maniacally genius in the way he groomed me as a parent and my daughter as a victim," Keiser said, adding that the trust "was built over years."
PHOTO: Dr. Larry Nassar, 54, appears in court for a plea hearing in Lansing, Mich., Nov. 22, 2017. (Paul Sancya/AP)
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Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar sentenced to 60 years over child porn charges
Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar pleads guilty to sexual assault charges
Nassar, a former Michigan State University (MSU) and USA Gymnastics doctor, was sentenced to 60 years in prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to federal child pornography charges.
Nassar also pleaded guilty last month to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving girls who were 15 years old or younger in Ingham County, Michigan, as well as three other counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Eaton County, Michigan. In addition, he has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 125 women and girls in civil lawsuits.
Olympic gymnasts Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Gabby Douglas have publicly said they were abused by the disgraced doctor.
PHOTO: McKayla Maroney is pictured after winning the Vault and Floor Exercise during the Senior Women Competition at the 2013 P&G Gymnastics Championships during USA Gymnastics' National Championships at the XL, Center, Hartford, Conn., Aug. 17, 2013. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
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Sterling Riethman has joined a lawsuit alleging that MSU had received complaints as far back as 2000 and failed to investigate properly. Keiser told ABC News that she believes MSU, the institution that housed Nassar's practice for decades, failed to protect young athletes from the his widespread abuse.
"If MSU had listened to the reports that started in 1996, my child would not have been a patient, and then she would not have been a victim," Keiser said. "How many other dozens of young women are in that same situation?"
She added that if a thorough investigation had been launched when the first allegations emerged against Nassar, scores of victims could have been protected, telling ABC News, "It could have been stopped."
Jason Cody, a spokesperson for MSU said in a statement this November that the university "unequivocally denies" the accusation that the university "is engaged in a ‘cover up of misconduct by university administrators.'"
"Moreover, MSU has consistently promised if it were to find any employee knew of and acquiesced in Nassar’s misconduct, the university would immediately report it to law enforcement," Cody added. "As for the call for an independent investigation, the FBI and MSU Police Department conducted a joint investigation earlier this year to determine whether any university employee other than Nassar engaged in criminal conduct. The results of that investigation were sent to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan. We have no reason to believe that any criminal conduct was found."
The statement continued: "Michigan State University continues to be shocked and appalled by Larry Nassar’s now-admitted criminal conduct. Any suggestion that the university covered up this conduct is simply false."
Keiser said she and her daughter are speaking out now in order to create "change" and protect future athletes.
"Sterling said something the other day," Keiser told ABC News. "She said, 'You know, if something horrible is going to happen to me, and I do nothing, I’m only a victim, but if it creates change, and we can make this better, then it served a purpose.
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