Larry Nassar, the disgraced former sports physician convicted of sexually abusing hundreds of young female athletes, has been removed from the Michigan Sex Offender Registry.
The development, confirmed by the Eaton County Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday, is the result of a recent Michigan Supreme Court decision regarding the state’s registry laws. Nassar is one of more than 20,000 individuals whose names were recently purged from the Michigan State Police database.
On September 9, the state Supreme Court ruled that 2021 amendments to Michigan’s Sex Offender Registration Act cannot be applied retroactively to older crimes.
As a direct result of this ruling, state police were forced to remove individuals whose criminal conduct took place prior to July 1, 2011.
While Nassar was not publicly exposed, arrested or convicted until years later, his crimes technically occurred before the 2011 cutoff date. Therefore, he is no longer legally required to be listed on the public registry.
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The Eaton County Prosecutor’s Office strongly criticized the removal. Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd pointed out that while Nassar’s convictions came after the deadline, the conduct itself allowed for the loophole.
The prosecutor’s office stated that the Supreme Court could have applied a different interpretation of the law to ensure certain offenders remained on the public list. The office added that debates over the effectiveness of the registry should be left to lawmakers in the legislature, rather than decided by the judicial branch.
Nassar served as a team physician for USA Gymnastics until 2014 and Michigan State University until 2016. The investigation into his actions became a national scandal, unraveling after Rachael Denhollander publicly accused him in September 2016.
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Dozens of victims testified during his January 2018 court sentencing, including Olympic champions Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber, while stars like Simone Biles and McKayla Maroney later testified before Congress in September 2021.
During his sentencing, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina described Nassar as “possibly the most prolific serial child sex abuser in history.”
Despite his removal from the registry, there is no threat to the public. The former physician is currently serving multiple lengthy prison sentences for his convictions on state sexual assault charges and federal child pornography charges.
Given the decades he was sentenced to serve, authorities note it is highly unlikely he will ever be released from prison before his death.
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