More than 120 victims of sexual abuse by former USA Gymnastics team Dr. Larry Nassar are demanding the Justice Department release the inspector general’s report about how the FBI handled the investigation.
Victims cite reasons of transparency are “important for our healing for all the facts to come out and for wrongdoers to be held accountable” in a recent letter sent to the DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, according to a report by Fox News. The letter falls on the five-year anniversary of when the FBI became aware of the allegations of Nassar’s abuse.
“Why is the Justice Department sitting on this report?” the letter read. “We do not want it withheld, and then have authorities claim they cannot indict and prosecute people involved in criminal conduct because the statute of limitations has expired.”
Nassar, 54, was working at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, where he had sexually abused athletes training for the Olympics. The convicted doctor is serving a sentence of up to 175 years following his guilty plea in January 2018 for sexually abusing 10 underage girls.
Nassar was reported to the FBI by USA Gymnastics in June 2015 and was arrested in December 2016. He was suspected of abusing over 40 girls between that time frame.
Victims cited the lengthy process it took to arrest Nassar as particularly concerning. One victim, two-time Olympian Aly Raisman, wasn’t contacted by the FBI until 15 months after she had filed a complaint against Nassar.
A congressional report on the FBI’s investigation into Nassar also pointed out that it “dragged on” and that the doctor was not stopped during the process from seeing patients.
