First Male Gymnast Alleges Sexual Abuse By Larry Nassar
LANSING (WWJ) - Another lawsuit has been filed against former doctor Larry Nassar, along with USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University – this time by a male gymnast.
According to a complaint filed in federal court, Jacob Moore was 16 years old in 2016 when Nassar sexually molested him in the basement of Nassar's home, claiming that the assault was medical treatment for his shoulder injury.
The complaint states that Nassar told Moore that he would treat the injury "through acupuncture in his pubic area and in and around his genitalia," then proceeded to do so. "There is no known medical connection between shoulder pain which can be treated through acupuncture in the area of a male's genitalia," the complaint continues.
Moore's attorney Ven Johnson said that after a female gymnast, who was also a minor at the time, entered the basement where Nassar was treating Moore, the doctor pulled down Moore's pants and exposed him to the girl.
"I know he abused anybody and everybody that he could get his hands on; he clearly is that manipulative and evil," Johnson told WWJ's Sandra McNeill. "And so we're hoping that if there's other young men out there, which I'm sure there are, that they step forward."
Johnson said Moore deserves a lot of credit for coming forward.
"Obviously it's a highly embarrassing situation for him, but he is convinced as we are that by sharing his story, hopefully he'll gain some strength in demanding that somebody take responsibility for what happened to him."
Moore, who now is a gymnast at the University of Michigan, joins the more than 250 women and girls who have claimed they were sexually abused by Nassar while he worked as a doctor at MSU and for Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics, which trains athletes for the Olympics.
As MSU and USA Gymnastics remains under investigation, the 54-year-old Nassar is serving a sentence of up to 175 years in prison. [Catch up on the Nassar case]
