Sterling Riethman spoke out on the day of gymnast doctor Larry Nassar’s sentencing for sexual abuse, telling him: “You were meant to be locked up for the rest of your life.”
“I truly believe for some reason or another that I was meant to be here today,” Riethman said on the seventh day of Nassar’s sentencing in Michigan on Wednesday. “You were meant to get caught. You were meant to be locked up for the rest of your life.”
She added: “As for us, we are meant to thrive. We are meant to be happy. We are meant to put an end to sexual abuse… And so, here we are today, doing exactly that: we will not rest. Here we are, retaliating the past, explaining our present and working towards a better future.”
Riethman, who started getting treated by Nassar when she was 10 years old, asked that Nassar receives the maximum sentence for his actions. Other women who have spoken out include Rachael Denhollander, Isabell Hutchins, Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber and McKayla Maroney.
Nassar, 54, pleaded guilty to assaulting seven in the Lansing area, including Denhollander.
“Our words today are simply the start,” Riethman told Judge Rosemarie Aquilina. “Maybe one day, we will understand the reasoning behind all of this — maybe we won’t.”
Previously, Riethman had said that during the summer of her junior year, she would drive to Lansing for a total of seven appointments, where each visit would end with “tailbone manipulation.”
“Vaginal penetration. No gloves,” she said, according to WWMT. “No lubricant and there was never really an explanation of what he was doing, or when he would do it, or how long the treatment would last.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, more than 150 victims have given statements accusing the former Michigan sports doctor of sexual abuse of Olympic gymnasts and other young women. Nassar faces a minimum prison term of 25 to 40 years.
The accusers, many of whom were children, said they trusted Nassar to care for them properly when they had injuries. He allegedly used a sheet or his body to block the view of any parent in the room.
Watch the video above.