- A look at the lives of 13 siblings held captive in a house full of chains — and what comes next
- One After Another, Athletes Face Larry Nassar and Recount Sexual Abuse
- Women Confront Larry Nassar in Court: ‘I Was So Brainwashed Then’
- What MSU knew: 14 were warned of Nassar abuse
8 women reported abuse claims, at least one of which reached president
8 women reported abuse claims, at least one of which reached president
A look at the lives of 13 siblings held captive in a house full of chains — and what comes next
by Marwa Eltagouri January 19, 2018
California parents plead not guilty to torture of 13 children
What started as neglect, officials said, became dangerous and pervasive child abuse over the years.
If they misbehaved, the 13 siblings living in a Southern California home would be tied to their beds as punishment — first with ropes, until a child whose limbs were strung together was able to wriggle free. Then, the parents began using chains and padlocks, officials said.
Over time, the periods in which the siblings were confined grew longer, and they would not be released to use the bathroom, officials said....
These disturbing living conditions for years went undiscovered, police say, until a 17-year-old girl escaped from the Perris, Calif., house this week. Her 12 siblings were freed soon after, and her parents were arrested.
On Thursday, David Allen Turpin and Louise Anna Turpin were charged with multiple felony counts of torture, child abuse, abuse of dependent adults and false imprisonment. David Turpin is additionally charged with committing a lewd act on one of the female children by force. The couple, initially arrested on charges of torture and child endangerment, could face up to life in prison if found guilty....
The parents would buy food for themselves but prohibit the children from having any, with the exception of the 2-year-old, who was getting enough to eat. Sometimes, authorities said, the parents would buy apple or pumpkin pies, leave them on the counter and let them go uneaten, prohibiting the children from tasting them.
One 12-year-old is so malnourished that his weight was that of an average 7-year-old, and the 29-year-old female victim weighs 82 pounds, Hestrin said.
The siblings rarely left their Perris house and did not go to school. Instead, they were taught at home, Hestrin said, but were forced to sleep all day and stay up at night, typically going to sleep at 4 or 5 a.m.
The Turpin children were permitted to bathe just once a year, Hestrin said....
One After Another, Athletes Face Larry Nassar and Recount Sexual Abuse
By SCOTT CACCIOLA and CHRISTINE HAUSER JAN. 19, 2018
LANSING, Mich. — Armed with pieces of paper etched with their memories of sexual abuse, they stepped forward, one by one — nearly 100 of them, with more to come.
For four full days this week, in a fluorescent-lighted courtroom here, women and girls — some of them the best gymnasts in the country, others with dreams prematurely crushed, they said, by a man who now sat in handcuffs 10 feet away — leaned into a microphone to address him, sometimes through sobs, sometimes with screams, but always with determination.
Aly Raisman, 23, who won gold medals at the past two Summer Olympics, told of late-night knocks on her hotel door while she was competing overseas, as the man, Dr. Lawrence G. Nassar, then the team doctor, arrived to abuse her.
A teammate at the 2012 London Games, Jordyn Wieber, who until Friday had not identified herself as a victim of Dr. Nassar’s, recalled the torment of the Games, where she was a part of the American team that won a gold medal but, she said, had to submit to his care under the auspices of the sport’s governing body, U.S.A. Gymnastics.
“Our bodies were all hanging by a thread in London,” she said. “Who was the doctor that U.S.A.G. sent? The doctor who was our abuser.”....
“Nobody was protecting us from being taken advantage of,” Ms. Wieber said. “Nobody was ever concerned whether or not we were being sexually abused.”
Ms. Raisman took clear aim at both U.S.A. Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Committee when she appeared in court on Friday.
“Neither U.S.A. Gymnastics nor the U.S.O.C. have reached out to express sympathy or even offer support,” she said. “Not even to ask: ‘How did this happen? What do you think we can do to help?’ Why have I and others here, probably, not heard anything from the leadership at the U.S.O.C.? Why has the United States Olympic Committee been silent? Why isn’t the U.S.O.C. here right now?”....
The impact of the trial, and Dr. Nassar’s history of assault, is spreading well beyond the courtroom. Michigan State University, which employed Dr. Nassar, was also facing increasing pressure after revelations that 14 people, including the president, Lou Anna K. Simon, had been warned about his conduct....
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/19/sports/larry-nassar-women.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/19/sports/larry-nassar-women.html
Women Confront Larry Nassar in Court: ‘I Was So Brainwashed Then’
By CHRISTINE HAUSER and MAYA SALAM JAN. 22, 2018
Three U.S.A. Gymnastics board members resigned in the wake of Larry Nassar’s sex abuse scandal. More survivors came forward on the fifth day of the sentencing hearing.
By CHRISTINE HAUSER and MAYA SALAM JAN. 22, 2018
Three U.S.A. Gymnastics board members resigned in the wake of Larry Nassar’s sex abuse scandal. More survivors came forward on the fifth day of the sentencing hearing.
....But on Monday in a Michigan courtroom, on the fifth day of Dr. Nassar’s sentencing hearings, dozens of women spoke out or had their statements read aloud for them — statements about how, after winning their trust, he sexually molested them. They described being misled as children and teenagers, saying that they saw Dr. Nassar as a trustworthy savior who consoled them or wiped blood from their faces, and as a man they looked up to as a prominent doctor in gymnastics.
As nearly 100 women did last week, they offered remarks that went beyond the emotional and graphic stories of sexual abuse by Dr. Nassar when they were sent to him as young athletes. On Monday, more than a dozen asked how the abuse could have gone on for decades, and why organizations — such as the national gymnastics governing body and Michigan State University, his employer — enabled him or turned a blind eye.
On Monday, several top board members of U.S.A. Gymnastics announced their resignations, including the group’s chairman, vice chairman and treasurer. On Saturday, a Michigan State trustee, Mitch Lyons, dissented from the board’s public support for its president, Lou Anna K. Simon, calling for her to resign amid questions around her knowledge about Dr. Nassar’s behavior....
As the women approached the podium, they were welcomed by Judge Rosemarie Aquilina of Ingham County Circuit Court, who called them “survivors” and said she would hear statements from more than 140 women altogether, possibly through Tuesday. Dr. Nassar, who has already received a 60-year sentence for child pornography, will be sentenced after the statements are finished.
After each of them spoke, the judge addressed them again, encouraging them to leave their painful memories behind.....
Dr. Nassar pleaded guilty in November to seven counts of sexual assault, and his sentencing hearing, which began last Tuesday, has been growing as the number of women who have wanted to speak in court has grown.....
What MSU knew: 14 were warned of Nassar abuse
8 women reported abuse claims, at least one of which reached president
Kim Kozlowski, The Detroit News
8 women reported abuse claims, at least one of which reached president
Kim Kozlowski, The Detroit News
Reports of sexual misconduct by Dr. Larry Nassar reached at least 14 Michigan State University representatives in the two decades before his arrest, with no fewer than eight women reporting his actions, a Detroit News investigation has found.
Among those notified was MSU President Lou Anna Simon, who was informed in 2014 that a Title IX complaint and a police report had been filed against an unnamed physician, she told The News on Wednesday.
“I was informed that a sports medicine doctor was under investigation,” said Simon, who made the brief comments after appearing in court Wednesday to observe a sentencing hearing for Nassar. “I told people to play it straight up, and I did not receive a copy of the report. That’s the truth.”
Among the others who were aware of alleged abuse were athletic trainers, assistant coaches, a university police detective and an official who is now MSU’s assistant general counsel, according to university records and accounts of victims who spoke to The News.
Collectively, the accounts show MSU missed multiple opportunities over two decades to stop Nassar, a graduate of its osteopathic medical school who became a renowned doctor but went on to molest scores of girls and women under the guise of treating them for pain.....
No comments:
Post a Comment