I respectfully ask that you consider the following, as you determine Nassar s sentence.

Transcription

1 110 Michigan St NW Courtroom 401 Federal Building Grand Rapids, MI, Re: Victim Impact Statement of Erin Maroney Dear Judge Neff, Your Honor, my name is Erin Maroney, and I am McKayla Maroney s mother. I am writing this letter on behalf of my entire family, and I m asking, and pleading with you to give Lawrence Nassar the maximum sentence possible under the plea agreement. The U.S. Attorney recommended that McKayla agree to this plea agreement, which eliminated the possibility of Nassar being charged at the federal level, with McKayla s molestations in California, Connecticut, Texas, at the Olympic Games and at various locations all over the world while she was competing for our country. After thoughtful consideration she agreed to this request in the hopes that Nassar would receive a lengthy sentence that would effectively prevent him from ever again having the opportunity to prey upon a child. I respectfully ask that you consider the following, as you determine Nassar s sentence. McKayla was born on December 9 th, 1995, and it wasn t too long after she learned how to walk, that we realized she was very agile and coordinated for her age. She had a ton of energy, she was always on the go, so at 18 months, I placed her in a Mommy and Me, gym class in hopes to put some of her energy to good use, and perhaps even tire her out. Instead, what happened though, she became stronger and faster, and she never looked back. Then one fateful day, as she watched our country s gymnasts on TV during the Summer Olympics, her eyes lit up! She told her Dad and I that she was going to be an Olympian and compete for Team USA and win a gold medal. She wanted to stand on that podium and hear our National anthem played and see our flag raised. It would be her honor to our country. We have always instilled the love of country in our children. As parents, we could not have been more proud of our daughter s accomplishments as a representative of our country. At the time we hadn t realized the terrible price she would have to pay. Years ago, I actually served as a hospital corpsman in the United States Navy. I was born in Michigan and I joined through the Detroit, Michigan depot. It was important for me to serve my country, I am proud of it, and I have nothing but respect for those who have also served. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would return to Michigan to a sentencing of my child s rapist. McKayla s first competition was at age 7. Her dream was to become an Olympic Champion. She trained thousands of hours. Most days she trained six to eight hours a day. Weekends and most holidays, it didn t matter, she wanted to train. She did not attend school at her coach s request, and instead was home schooled. She never went to a high school dance, nor enjoyed any of the other pleasant childhood activities most of us can recall. She made

2 Page 2 the choice to sacrifice a traditional childhood to pursue her gymnastics career. McKayla s hard work and determination paid off. She made the United States national team at age 14 in She won a world championship in Tokyo in She is a world champion, an Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist and won countless competitions as a competitive gymnast both individually and for US teams. We know now during all of this time on the national team, the US World Team and the US Olympic Teams she was being sexually assaulted under the guise of medical treatment by the Defendant, Lawrence Nassar. Whenever we could, her father and I traveled nationally and internationally, at our own expense, attending her competitions and supporting her. Her brother and sister made huge sacrifices of time and attention to support their sister s gymnastics career. We went to these competitions to support her, and to be there just in case she needed us to protect her. During travel abroad, we were not allowed to stay with McKayla. We were always in separate hotels. At most we were allowed to see her for an hour, after the competitions were over. We were never allowed to accompany her for her training while at the US Olympic Training Center at the Karolyi Ranch. USA Gymnastics and the Karolyi s had a system in place, which from the outside looking in, for years, had been extremely successful. Who was I to question them? In hindsight, I should have questioned. My husband once questioned the propriety of the isolation of the girls during international travel. He was assured by Steve Penny that the girls were safe at all times. More safe than the President of the USA, he said to him. We now know that this was a lie. The truth is, there was no security in most locations for our daughter. There was no one in charge of protecting the girls from harm at the Karolyi Ranch, nor anywhere else. The Defendant was allowed by those in charge at USA Gymnastics to enter my child s hotel room. He did this all over the world, in her room at the Karolyi Ranch and other locations throughout the United States. No one stopped him, no one questioned him. Not Steven Penny, not Marta Karolyi, absolutely no one. Incredibly in the last few months I ve even come to learn the Defendant molested my child in her apartment at the Olympic village in London. I also learned a few weeks ago from my daughter that at the world championships in Tokyo the Defendant drugged her, made her lay nude on a treatment table, straddled her and digitally penetrated her while rubbing his erect penis against her. She was only 15 years old. She said to me Mom I thought I was going to die. I cannot tell you the anguish her Dad and I feel over this, and the responsibility we feel for not being aware of this, or being able to stop it. The other stunning revelation that has devastated our family is the knowledge that McKayla and many of the other girls the Defendant molested should never have met Nassar. His conduct was well known to Michigan State University as it was reported numerous times to MSU officials before McKayla even met him. It was actually reported to officials in the 1990 s! How does that happen?

3 Page 3 Nassar s inappropriate conduct was also known to USA Gymnastics officials. He was not supervised; his licenses were not checked and he kept no medical records of his treatment, of these young gymnasts. Apparently, and obviously, he was not properly supervised by the U.S. Olympic Committee, even though they officially cleared him to treat our daughter and her teammates. The revelation of McKayla s abuse has devastated our family. It has devastated McKayla s siblings and worst of all it has destroyed her emotionally and nearly snuffed out the inner light of this beautiful loving human being. Respectfully, your honor, our daughter was totally failed by USA Gymnastics, by Michigan State University (the Defendant s employer) and by the U.S. Olympic Committee. No one from the USOC has ever reached out to me or my husband or my daughter to inquire about her wellbeing. Not once. No one has apologized. Notably in the Defendant s statement to the court on sentencing he states he apologizes to the community. He never once apologized to my daughter or the hundreds of other little girls he molested. He clearly has no genuine remorse for his crimes and he never will. The US Olympic Committee goes to great lengths to ensure a pure sport by preventing athletes from using performance enhancing substances and that is something I fully support. When McKayla was competing, she would be tested at our home at all hours of the day or night on a weekly or bi-monthly basis. Of course, we fully complied. If they committed the same resources to protecting my daughter s safety and the safety of her fellow athletes I might not be writing this letter. Equally disturbing is the lack of accountability of the USOC, Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics. None of them have accepted any responsibility for what happened to McKayla and her teammates. Instead they have made public relations statements. The President of Michigan State Lou Anna Simon actually said, it s impossible to detect a pedophile and people make mistakes in direct response to the revelation the Defendant molested dozens of little girls including my child. She has not terminated anyone associated with protecting Dr. Nassar. USA Gymnastics has denied any responsibility and the US Olympic Committee President Scott Blackman and it s Board have said Unfortunately, this predator was not identified by any organization during the time in question. I would say that it is more than unfortunate, it is absolutely criminal. Some of the most famous American Olympians were molested on their watch and at the Olympic Games where they were charged with protecting my daughter. Shame on all of them for not accepting responsibility for their actions. Those with the knowledge that the Defendant was putting his ungloved hand into the vaginas and rectums of little girls and said nothing or covered it up are as responsible for the Defendant s abuse as he is. In July of 2015 McKayla was contacted by a woman named Fran Sepler. We were told by Steve Penny that she was a private investigator for USA Gymnastics. McKayla told Fran Sepler her story at a meeting in Long Beach. Nassar was not allowed at the National Championships that year. At one point we were informed that Nassar was no longer with USA Gymnastics. Unknown to McKayla or us, they allowed Nassar to put out a cover story that he

4 Page 4 was resigning from USAG. He wanted to do more work on the research, side of things, less patient care, and to spend more time with his family. USA Gymnastics and the USOC kept the knowledge of his status as child molester secret not only from Michigan State University after 2015 and even said nothing when he ran for school board in his local school district! This experience has been shattering to McKayla. She has transformed from a bubbly, positive, loving, world class athlete into a young adult who was deeply depressed, at times suicidal and essentially descended into an emotional abyss. At times I was unsure whether I would open her bedroom door and find her dead. Her father and I have been living this nightmare for years and until recently we felt hopeless. Nassar and those individuals and institutions that protected him almost snuffed out my daughter. For several years she has been unable to work and for months on end didn t leave our home, or even her room. Thankfully, many other victims have come forward and the Michigan Attorney General s office along with the Michigan State police served search warrants and were able to get his computers which led to today s sentencing. This revelation that McKayla was not alone, along with the outpouring of love and support following her public statement that Nassar abused her, seems to be aiding her recovery. She is by no means herself again but thanks to many prayers and the hard work of courageous law enforcement officials, she and we have hope for her healing. Mckayla and our family pray and ask that you impose the maximum sentence because it s what he justly deserves. You, as the judge in this case, have an opportunity to really make a difference in my life, to my daughter s life, and to all people out there suffering from the abuse of child molesters. In my opinion, Nassar is not a doctor, he s a child molester who spent years skillfully creating an environment for himself which would afford him the ability to flourish as a child molester. The Defendant used his prominent position of trust to assault young girls for his own perverse pleasure. His sentencing memorandum demonstrates conclusively that neither he nor his family understand that he is a horrible predator. There letters of support essentially outline what I know to be sexual grooming behavior. His relatives talk about how he would volunteer at church, stay after hours to help children, and so forth. All of these activities revolve around children which he wanted to molest. In addition, the volume of the child pornography found is staggering. It s a disgusting thought, but 37,000 images would equal a large football stadium filled with just little girls. How sick is that! How many more images were on his computer at Michigan State University that he erased? Were McKayla s images on there? Were his other victims? Did he trade those images with other pedophiles? Are those images on the dark web today? These are questions that keep my husband and I up at night. I know this also haunts my daughter. Will she wake up one day to find an image of her 13-year-old self being assaulted on the internet? This is what our family must live with and it will never go away. Please, we beg you, I beg you, please impose the maximum sentence for the sake of my child, for the poor children in these depraved images and for the countless others the Defendant

5 Page 5 hurt. Anything less is not justice, Your Honor. Please don t fail my child like so many other institutions who were supposed to protect her. Thank you for your consideration of my opinion. Respectfully, Erin Maroney