LOS ANGELES – Former United States Olympics women’s gymnastics coach John Geddert died by suicide yesterday, his body found hours after prosecutors filed human trafficking and sexual assault charges against him, Michigan Attorney-General Dana Nessel said.
“My office has been notified that the body of Geddert was found late this afternoon after taking his own life,” Nessel said in a statement. “This is a tragic end to a tragic story for everyone involved.”
Earlier yesterday, Nessel had announced a 24-count complaint against Geddert, who owned a training facility where convicted sex offender Larry Nassar served as the gym doctor.
It included sexual assault charges involving an unnamed athlete between the ages of 13 and 16, and alleged that Geddert’s treatment of young gymnasts constituted human trafficking “as he reportedly subjected his athletes to forced labour or services under extreme conditions that contributed to them suffering injuries and harm.
“Geddert then neglected those injuries that were reported to him by the victims and used coercion, intimidation, threats, and physical force to get them to perform to the standard he expected,” prosecutors said.
Nessel had said at a press conference streamed on social media yesterday morning that Geddert was expected to surrender to authorities yesterday and be arraigned in the afternoon.
The ex-coach came under scrutiny because of his close personal and professional relationship with Nassar, the former US national team doctor sentenced to life in prison over the sexual abuse of multiple young female gymnasts under the guise of medical treatment.
A personal coach to US gymnast Jordyn Wieber and owner of the Twistars training facility in suburban Lansing, Michigan, Geddert was accused by many Nassar victims of requiring them to be treated by Nassar.
USA Gymnastics suspended Geddert in 2018. He immediately announced his retirement and said he had “zero knowledge” of Nassar's crimes.
However, in three weeks of sentencing hearings during which some 200 women, girls, and victims’ family members confronted Nassar by reading victim impact statements, Twistars gymnasts said they had endured physical and verbal abuse by Geddert.
Amy Preston, mother of an unidentified Nassar victim who was trained at Twistars, said in court that her daughter suffered under Geddert’s emotional abuse, which she said Nassar exploited to build trust with the young gymnast.
“Geddert behaved as brutally as they say, and Nassar was as kind as they speak. A very toxic and lethal combination as it turns out,” Preston said.
Prosecutors stressed yesterday that the only charge against Geddert specifically linked to Nassar was that of lying to authorities when asked whether he knew the doctor was sexually abusing athletes.
Otherwise, they said “the crimes alleged against Geddert are his own”.
He was also charged with racketeering, with prosecutors alleging he trafficked 15 athletes for financial gain. – AFP, February 26, 2021
