Former U.S. gymnastics trainer John Geddert kills himself after felony charges including human trafficking and sexual assault

Former US Olympic gymnastics coach John Geddert died by suicide on Thursday, hours after being charged with two dozen crimes stemming from allegations that he physically, emotionally and sexually abused gymnasts in his care.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel confirmed that Geddert committed suicide Thursday afternoon, calling his death “the tragic end of a tragic story for all involved.”

Michigan State Police have confirmed that Geddert’s body was found at a freeway rest area at 3:24 p.m. ET.

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

Michigan state officials charged Geddert with 24 felonies: 20 counts of human trafficking and forced labor, one count of first degree sexual assault, one count of second degree sexual assault, racketeering and lying to a policeman. An attorney for the Michigan attorney general’s office also said Thursday that Geddert knew that disgraced U.S. team doctor Larry Nassar was sexually abusing patients in the gym where the two men worked and was lying to police about it during the show. a 2016 survey of Nassar.

The other charges against Geddert all relate to his own behavior with gymnasts he trained at 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 Thursday indicate that, among other things, Geddert digitally penetrated a girl aged 13 to 16 in January 2012.

Geddert previously owned Twistars USA Gymnastics in Dimondale, Mich., Just outside Lansing, where dozens of women say they were sexually assaulted by Nassar under the guise of medical treatment. Geddert and Nassar worked side by side for over a quarter of a century, while both reached the pinnacle of elite gymnastics.

Geddert has long been viewed within the gymnastics community as one of Nassar’s primary catalysts. As early as the late 1980s, at the Great Lakes Gymnastics Club in Lansing, even before becoming a registered doctor, Nassar began sexually assaulting underage gymnasts on his training table, according to accounts from several women.

Geddert achieved national notoriety in the early 2000s and was named coach of the United States national team for the 2012 London Olympics. His role as national coach has taken him to travel the world with the best. American gymnasts. Many of these gymnasts, including all of the famous Fierce Five who won gold in London, say Nassar abused them on their international trips.

Former Olympian McKayla Maroney says she was in a car with Geddert on one of those international trips, to Tokyo during the 2011 World Championships. During the drive, Maroney gave a graphic description of how Nassar had touched her inappropriately during a treatment session the night before, according to several people who heard her remarks. Geddert did not react at the time, according to accounts from passengers in the car, but has since denied hearing Maroney’s comments.

USA Gymnastics suspended Geddert from Nassar’s conviction hearing in January 2018 amid a flood of public complaints from former gymnasts about his abusive training style. Geddert announced he was retiring from training days after being suspended by USA Gymnastics. He transferred the 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 arising from the Nassar case. Former USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny was arrested for tampering with evidence in 2018. In Michigan, where Nassar was employed, former president Lou Anna Simon, former dean of medical school William Strampel and former gymnastics trainer Kathie Klages have all been charged with crimes. Strampel, Nassar’s former boss, was charged with misconduct in office and willful neglect of office and served eight months of a one-year prison sentence before being released last spring. Klages was convicted of lying to police in August 2020 and sentenced to 90 days in prison. The charges of lying to police against Simon were dismissed in May 2020, but the attorney general’s office is appealing the decision, Nessel said Thursday.

Nassar, 57, is currently serving a 60-year prison sentence on child pornography charges in a federal prison near Orlando, Fla., But he also faces an additional maximum of 175 years in prison for his convictions on charges of State at Ingham and Eaton. County, Michigan. Earlier this month, Nassar appealed his case to the Michigan Supreme Court. Nessel said Thursday that the Nassar Magistrate’s Court’s sentence should stand, describing it as “a just and just sentence.”