Larry Nassar to stand trial for more sex assault charges
— -- CHARLOTTE, Mich. -- Larry Nassar, the embattled former doctor for the USA women's gymnastics team and Michigan State University, has been ordered to stand trial in Michigan in yet another sexual assault case.
An Eaton County judge made the ruling Friday after three alleged victims testified Nassar sexually assaulted them at Twistars Gymnastics Club USA in Dimondale, Michigan, where for years he volunteered his time providing medical treatment to Lansing-area gymnasts.
The 53-year-old Nassar, who up until last year worked full time as an osteopathic physician at Michigan State University, is now charged with multiple counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Last week, an Ingham County, Michigan, judge ordered Nassar to stand trial on charges of sexually assaulting six young gymnasts.
Nassar also faces child pornography charges in federal court and remains in federal custody.
A motion filed Friday in federal court seeks to add 23 more female plaintiffs to the largest civil lawsuit against Nassar.
A total of 119 women are now suing, or attempting to sue, Nassar, Michigan State and other parties for alleged sexual abuse that stretches from 1994 to 2016.
"What bother's me the most is there's now 119 victims and this could have been stopped 20 years ago and there would have been very few," said Stephen Drew, one of the attorneys representing the 23 women seeking to join the lawsuit against Nassar. Drew and his co-counsels represent a total of 65 women who are suing, or seeking to sue, Nassar and others.
Their complaint alleges Nassar sexually assaulted the women, most of them minors at the time, during medical exams, through vaginal and anal digital penetration, without the use of gloves or lubricant and without parental consent. In some cases Nassar also allegedly groped their breasts. The treatments were presented under the guise of medical care, according to the lawsuit.
One of the women seeking to join the lawsuit through the motion filed Friday is U.S. national rhythmic gymnastics champion Jessica Howard, who also served on the USA Gymnastics board of directors.
When testifying before a recent Senate committee, Howard said those board meetings "seemed to revolve around two things: money and medals. When a sexual abuse case came up during my time on the board, the concern was about the reputation of the coach -- not the accusation of the athlete."
Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics and its current and former top officers are also defendants in many of the lawsuits filed against Nassar.
ESPN's John Barr and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
