Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor who sexually assaulted hundreds of young women, was stabbed multiple times in a Florida prison on Sunday.
An inmate stabbed Nassar twice in the neck, twice in the back, and six times in the chest, a prison union leader told NBC. Nassar is in stable condition and is currently serving decades at the United States Penitentiary Coleman.
The Michigan doctor was sentenced in 2017, after he was found with a vast collection of child pornography, and again in 2018, when he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of sexual assault and admitted to assaulting several more young women, more than 150 of whom spoke at his trial. Nassar is estimated to have abused 300 women — Olympic gymnasts, Michigan State University athletes, and young girls who sought medical treatment for sports-related injuries.
The FBI has been notified of the incident, and the prison will conduct an investigation.
Rachael Denhollander, one of the gymnasts who first accused the doctor of assault, made a statement on Twitter after the prison attack:
None of the women I’ve spoken with are rejoicing today. We’re grieving the destruction across so much. We’re grieving the reality that protecting others from him came with the near-certainty we would wake up to this someday.
Although Nassar was first accused of sexual assault in 2015, it took the FBI years to conduct a thorough investigation of his conduct.
Only one case agent was fired after Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s bombshell 2021 report, which found evidence that the FBI botched its original handling of allegations against the doctor, allowing Nassar to assault 70 more young women.