Larry Nassar's 60-year federal prison sentence upheld

The 60-year federal prison sentence that was issued to 55-year-old disgraced former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University physician Larry Nassar back in December by U.S. District Judge Janet Neff on three child pornography charges has been upheld.

Judge Neff sentenced Nassar to three consecutive federal prison sentence of 20 years each for each of the three child pornography charges against him, and a three-judge panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling and affirmed this decision.

Here is a link to the document with the judges' full decision, courtesy of Deadspin.

Back in April, Nassar's federal court-appointed appellate attorney appealed this 60-year federal prison sentence. His attorney argued that Judge Neff made a mistake when she calculated the sentence guideline range for his federal prison by using his 10 sexual assault convictions in state court, as he had not yet been sentenced to prison on those 10 sexual assault charges at the time when his federal prison sentence was issued.

Nassar's attorney also claimed that it was "procedurally unreasonable" for Judge Neff to order that his state prison sentences be served after his federal prison sentence.

Here is how U.S. Attorney's Office responded, according to the Lansing State Journal.

"In deciding to impose consecutive sentences, the district court relied on the duration, enormity, and gravity of Nassar’s criminal conduct; the serious harm that Nassar inflicted on his victims; and the serious safety threat that Nassar presents to the public.

"The district court agreed with the government’s observation that at least some of Nassar’s activities occurred outside of the State of Michigan, and thus at least implicitly recognized that Nassar’s state sentences for first-degree criminal sexual conduct would not account for all of his criminal behavior."

Nassar pleaded guilty in in federal court to three charges in July of 2017. He obtained and possessed child pornography and he destroyed computer files to hamper the investigation.

He had at least 37,000 videos and images of child pornography in his possession, and they were found when the Michigan State Police Department executed a search of his Holt, Michigan home back in September of 2016, three months before he was finally arrested for his crimes.

Nassar, who has been accused of sexually assaulting more than 330 individuals, many of whom female gymnasts, under the guise of medical treatment for more than two decades, has since been issued two lengthy state prison sentences as well.

He was sentenced to between 40 and 175 years in state prison on seven sexual assault charges in Ingham County, Michigan back in January by Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, and he was sentenced to between 40 and 125 more years in state prison on three additional sexual assault charges in Eaton County, Michigan back in February by Judge Janice Cunningham.

Nassar was also charged with six counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child in Texas at the end of June as a result of the Károlyi Ranch investigation, but no additional prison time has been issued to him because of these charges.

Among those who have accused Nassar of sexual assault are Olympic champion gymnasts Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Madison Kocian, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross and Jordyn Wieber.

Nassar was recently serving his 60-year federal prison sentence at United States Penitentiary, Tucson, a maximum-security federal prison in Tucson, Arizona that offers a sex offender program for sexual predators such as he

However, Nassar was recently transferred from United States Penitentiary, Tucson to Federal Transfer Center, Oklahoma City, which typically serves as a holdover location before inmates are moved to a new location.

This move came just weeks after Nassar's lawyers claimed that he was physically assaulted at United States Penitentiary, Tucson back in May within hours of his release into the general population of the prison.

It is not yet known to which federal prison Nassar will be taken from here.