Former U.S. Gymnastics Coach Charged With Human Trafficking

The former U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach John Geddert, who owned a gym where athletes said they were sexually assaulted by the former team doctor Lawrence Nassar, was charged with human trafficking, criminal sexual conduct and other crimes, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Mr. Geddert was the head coach of the 2012 Olympic gymnastics team and formerly owned and coached at Twistars, a gymnastics club located in Dimondale, a suburb of Lansing, Mich.

Dana Nessel, Michigan’s attorney general, announced the charges on Thursday at an afternoon news conference. Mr. Geddert faces 20 counts of human trafficking — including 14 counts of forced labor resulting in injury and six counts of trafficking a minor — as well as charges of racketeering, first-degree criminal sexual conduct, second-degree criminal sexual assault and lying to a police officer.

A lawyer for Mr. Geddert could not immediately be reached for comment.

According to felony complaint filed on Thursday in Eaton County, Mich., Mr. Geddert is accused of human trafficking for about a decade, from 2008 into 2018. The complaint also accuses Mr. Geddert of criminal sexual conduct involving a person between the ages of 13 and 16 in January 2012.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/25/sports/john-geddert-gymnastics.html