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Geddert’s home, gym searched

Gymnastics coach tied to Nassar, is Alpena native

GRAND LEDGE (AP) — Police on Tuesday searched the Michigan home and former gym of a gymnastics coach who had ties to disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar and is a native of Alpena, authorities said.

The Lansing State Journal posted photos of a man with a police coat carrying a box away from John Geddert’s house in Grand Ledge, west of Lansing.

“Geddert was a U.S. Olympics gymnastics coach who worked closely with Dr. Larry Nassar and at whose gymnastics club, Twistars, many of the Nassar victims were abused,” said Kelly Rossman-McKinney, spokeswoman at the attorney general’s office.

No other details were released.

A message seeking comment was left with an attorney who has been representing Geddert in civil lawsuits.

Geddert in 2012 was head coach of the U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics team, which won a gold medal. Nassar, a doctor at Michigan State University, was the team’s doctor and also saw injured gymnasts at Twistars, Geddert’s Lansing-area gym for elite athletes.

Nassar has been sentenced to decades in prison for sexually assaulting gymnasts with his hands and possessing child pornography.

Geddert has insisted he had “zero knowledge” of Nassar’s crimes, although some gymnasts said he was physically abusive and forced them to see Nassar.

During Nassar’s sentencing, a woman said Geddert was aware in the late 1990s that Nassar had performed an “inappropriate procedure” on her when she was 16, and her mother and Geddert agreed that Nassar would not treat her in private again.

A prosecutor read that accuser’s anonymous statement in court.

Geddert was suspended by USA Gymnastics during the Nassar scandal. He told families in 2018 that he was retiring and transferring management of Twistars to his wife.

Geddert, a 1976 graduate of Alpena High School, was a standout gymnast with the Wildcats, earning three letters and serving as a co-captain during his senior year.

He went on to compete in gymnastics at Central Michigan University from 1976 to 1980 and ultimately became a renowned youth gymnastics coach when he moved back to Michigan in the mid-1980s.

As of 2013, Geddert’s teams had won 112 state titles and had more than 2,000 victories in state competition.

He was inducted into the Alpena High School Hall of Fame in 2012 and was subsequently inducted into the Alpena Sports Hall of Fame in 2013 and presented a key to the city.

News sports editor James Andersen contributed to this report.

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