Holt Public Schools is planning an investigation and "remedial action" after at least one victim of admitted pedophile Larry Nassar said Tuesday she was assaulted on Holt school property.
Nassar is a former Michigan State University sports medicine doctor who is facing life in prison for multiple sexual assault charges related, in part, to assaults on his patients during medical appointments. Nassar also treated athletes for USA Gymnastics, the Dimondale gymnastics club Twistars, and Holt schools.
Holt graduate Abigail Mealy said during the sixth day of Nassar's sentencing hearing on Tuesday that Nassar assaulted her on school property while she was a student there.
Holt Public Schools Superintendent David Hornak said in a written statement late Tuesday that the district "is in the process of identifying next steps to investigate and take appropriate remedial action.
"Our initial reactions are disgust for the reprehensible acts involving minor students who placed their complete trust in a medical doctor whom they expected had their best interest at heart," the statement says. "In the next several days, we will reach out to the former students who have made these reports, and offer resources and support to them."
Hornak was not immediately available Tuesday to answer follow-up questions.
Mealy was among more than 150 women and girls who said Nassar assaulted them and who have addressed Nassar directly for the past week, delivering impassioned victim impact statements before Nassar is sentenced in Ingham County. Sentencing is expected to happen Wednesday, the seventh day of the hearing.
Nassar faces sentencing later this month for related charges in Eaton County.
His plea agreement, which is the same in both counties, set the low end of his sentence to between 25 and 40 years in prison, with a maximum sentence of up to life in prison.
Nassar worked with Holt High School athletes through a contract the school district had with MSU. He was part of a pool of doctors available to the district through that arrangement, officials have said.
The district cut ties with Nassar after the first news reports on allegations against him were published in September 2016. Holt school officials said at the time they were unaware of any allegations against Nassar before the news reports and that Nassar had not had any contact with students that year.
State Journal archives indicate Nassar performed physicals for student-athletes at Holt High at least as early as 2009.
Nassar, who in 2015 helped run a Facebook group dedicated to issues in the school district, ran for the Holt school board in 2016 and received more than 2,700 votes nearly two months after the allegations against him became public.
Contact Justin A. Hinkley at (517) 377-1195 or jhinkley@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinHinkley. Sign up for his email newsletter, SoM Weekly, at on.lsj.com/somsignup.
