Larry Nassar stabbed multiple times in attack at Florida federal prison
Disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar, who was convicted of sexually abusing female gymnasts, was stabbed at least 10 times on Sunday at the federal prison in Florida where he is incarcerated, CBS News has confirmed.
Nassar was stabbed twice in the neck, twice in the back and six times in the chest, Jose Rojas, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 506, which represents employees at the prison, told CBS News on Monday. Nassar suffered a collapsed lung and is in stable condition, Rojas said.
According to the Associated Press, which first reported the attack, sources said it happened during an altercation with another incarcerated person at United States Penitentiary Coleman in Florida. The sources were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the attack or the ongoing investigation and spoke to The AP on the condition of anonymity.
In a statement to CBS News, the Bureau of Prisons declined to confirm Nassar had been stabbed, citing privacy and security reasons. However, the bureau did confirm that on Sunday afternoon "an inmate was assaulted at the United States Penitentiary (USP) Coleman II, in Sumterville, Florida. Responding staff immediately initiated life-saving measures. Staff requested Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and life-saving efforts continued. The inmate was transported by EMS to a local hospital for further treatment and evaluation."
No staff or other inmates were injured and at no time was the public in danger, the bureau said.
An internal investigation is ongoing.
"All visiting at this facility has been suspended until further notice," according to a banner on the prison's website Monday morning.
Rojas also said the union has been warning of severe staffing shortages since June 22, telling Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as well as local officials that there are 145 vacant positions in the prison complex, which includes five institutions. The night Nassar was stabbed, there were 44 unfilled positions on all three shifts in the prison he was in, Rojas said.
Nassar was sentenced to decades in prison for sexually assaulting gymnasts, including Olympic medalists. He is serving decades in prison for convictions in state and federal courts. He admitted sexually assaulting athletes when he worked at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians. Separately, Nassar pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.
During victim impact statements in 2018, several athletes testified that over the course of Nassar's more than two decades of sexual abuse they had told adults what was happening, including coaches and athletic trainers, but that it went unreported.
More than 100 women, including Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles, collectively sought more than $1 billion from the federal government for the FBI's failure to stop Nassar when agents became aware of allegations against him in 2015. He was arrested by Michigan State University police in 2016, more than a year later.
Michigan State, which was accused of missing chances over many years to stop Nassar, agreed to pay $500 million to more than 300 women and girls who were assaulted by him. USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee made a $380 million settlement.
In June 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court rejected a final appeal from Nassar. Attorneys for Nassar said he was treated unfairly in 2018 and deserved a new hearing, based on vengeful remarks by a judge who called him a "monster" who would "wither" in prison like the wicked witch in "The Wizard of Oz."
"I just signed your death warrant," Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said of Nassar's 40-year sentence.
The state Supreme Court said that Nassar's appeal was a "close question" and that it had "concerns" over the judge's conduct. But the court also noted that Aquilina, despite her provocative comments, stuck to the sentencing agreement worked out by lawyers in the case.
"We decline to expend additional judicial resources and further subject the victims in this case to additional trauma where the questions at hand present nothing more than an academic exercise," the court said in a two-page order.
More than 150 victims spoke or submitted statements during an extraordinary seven-day hearing in Aquilina's court more than four years ago.
"It's over. ... Almost six years after I filed the police report, it's finally over," said Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse Nassar.
CBS News' Pat Milton and Rob Legare contributed reporting.