John Geddert, former American gymnastics coach, commits suicide after serious accusations, including human trafficking, sexual assault

Former American Olympic gymnastics coach John Geddert died on Thursday, a few hours after he was accused of two dozen crimes resulting from allegations that he physically, emotionally and sexually abused the gymnasts under his care.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel confirmed that Geddert took his own life Thursday afternoon, calling his death “a tragic end to a tragic story for all involved.”

Michigan State Police confirmed that Geddert’s body was found at an interstate highway stop at 3:24 p.m.

Geddert, 63, was scheduled to be tried in Eaton County, Michigan, on Thursday afternoon.

Michigan officials have charged Geddert with 24 counts: 20 counts of trafficking in human beings and forced labor, one count of first-degree sexual assault, one count of second-degree sexual assault, racketeering and lying to a police officer. A lawyer at the Michigan attorney general’s office said Thursday that Geddert knew the embarrassed U.S. team doctor Larry Nassar sexually abused patients at the gym where both men worked and lied to police about it during a 2016 investigations into Nassar.

The rest of the allegations against Geddert are related to his own behavior with the gymnasts he trained at the gyms he owned in Michigan. Law enforcement began investigating Geddert in February 2018 following complaints about his abusive coaching style during Nassar’s sentencing hearing.

Court documents released on Thursday claim that, among other things, Geddert digitally penetrated in January 2012 a girl who was between 13 and 16 years old.

Geddert previously owned Twistars USA Gymnastics in Dimondale, Michigan, right near Lansing, where dozens of women say they were sexually assaulted by Nassar under medical treatment. Geddert and Nassar worked side by side for more than a quarter of a century, while both reached the pinnacle of elite gymnastics.

Geddert has long been seen in the gymnastics community as one of Nassar’s main facilitators. As early as the late 1980s, at the Great Lakes Gymnastics Club in Lansing, before he even became a licensed physician, Nassar began sexually assaulting minor gymnasts on his training table, according to several women.

Geddert grew nationally in the early 2000s and was named coach of the US national team for the London Olympics in 2012. His role as national coach led him to travel around the globe with top gymnasts in America. Many of these gymnasts, including all the members of the famous Fierce Five who won gold in London, say that Nassar abused them during their international travels.

Former Olympian McKayla Maroney says she was in a car with Geddert on such an international trip to Tokyo during the 2011 World Championships. During the car trip, Maroney gave a graphic description of how Nassar touched – improperly during a treatment session the night before, according to several people who heard her remarks. Geddert did not react at the time, according to the passengers in the car, but has since refused to listen to Maroney’s comments.

US gymnastics suspended Geddert during Nassar’s sentencing hearing in January 2018 amid a flood of public complaints from former gymnasts about his abusive coaching style. Geddert announced that he is retiring from the coach a few days after he was suspended by USA Gymnastic. He transferred ownership of Twistars USA to his wife and coaching partner in 2018. The gym was sold to new owners earlier this month.

Geddert was the fifth person to face criminal charges in the Nassar case. Former U.S. Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny was arrested on charges of falsifying evidence in 2018. In Michigan State, where Nassar was hired, former president Lou Anna Simon, former medical school dean William Strampel and former gymnastics coach Kathie Klages have been charged with crimes. Strampel, Nassar’s former boss, was charged with misconduct and willful negligence and served an eight-month one-year sentence before being released last spring. Klages was found guilty of lying to police in August 2020 and sentenced to 90 days in prison. Charges of lying to police against Simon were dropped in May 2020, but the attorney general’s office is appealing the decision, Nessel said on Thursday.

Nassar, 57, is currently serving a 60-year prison sentence for child pornography charges at a federal prison near Orlando, Florida, but is also facing an additional maximum of up to 175 years in prison for his convictions under state charges in Ingham and Eaton. Michigan County. Earlier this month, Nassar appealed his case to the Michigan Supreme Court. Nessel said on Thursday that Nassar’s sentence should remain valid, describing it as “a fair and just sentence”.