With the dust settling after the 175 -year sentence of Dr. Larry Nassar for his sexually molesting scores of America’s finest young female gymnasts, credit for unmasking the decades-long abuse has been attributed to the Indianapolis Star for their five month investigation and published expose. Reporters Tim Evans, Marisa Kwiatkowski and Mark Alesia filed a story in August of 2016 with details supporting the contention that USA Gymnastics was burying charges of sexual abuse committed by coaches. A former gymnast and now mother and lawyer Rachael Denhollander saw the story and thought she had a chance to be believed if she told her story about being molested as a fifteen-year-old by the team doctor, Larry Nasser. That opened the flood gates and led to Nasser’s indictment in November of 2016. (CNN, January 25, 2018, by Eric Levenson)
Michigan Assistant Attorney General Angel Povilaitis praised the Indy Star reporters saying, “Thank God we had these journalists. And that they exposed this truth and that they continued to cover this story.” (Columbia Journalism Review, January 25, 2018, by Pete Vernon)
Right after Nasser’s sentencing, the Detroit Free Press tweeted the names of Nasser’s 155 victims and printed them on its front page, writing “These are the names of the survivors who came forward the past several days to deliver impact statements against former MSU doctor Larry Nassar. Because of their bravery and courage, Nassar will spend the rest of his life behind bars.”(Yahoo News, January 24, 2018, by Dylan Stableford)