Former Olympic Coach Dead After Facing Abuse Charges

LANSING, MI — John Geddert, a former U.S. Olympics gymnastics coach who was charged with 24 felonies in a human trafficking case, apparently killed himself Thursday, according to multiple news reports.

Geddert's body was found by Michigan State Police at a rest stop on I-96 in Clinton County a little before 3:30 p.m. Thursday, authorities said. State police officials said an investigation is ongoing. Other details were not immediately available.

He was facing 20 years in prison if convicted on the 14 counts of human trafficking and forced labor causing injury, six counts of human trafficking of a minor for forced labor, one count of continuing a criminal enterprise, one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of lying to a police officer.

The charges were announced Thursday by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel during a news conference.

“My office has been notified that the body of John Geddert was found late this afternoon after taking his own life," Nessel said in a statement. "This is a tragic end to a tragic story for everyone involved.”

Geddert, 63, coached Olympic champion Jordyn Wieber, was a head coach for the London 2012 U.S. Olympic gymnastics team and was also a longtime associate of disgraced sports physician Larry Nassar.

Nessel said Geddert sold his reputation as an Olympic-level coach and promised to unsuspecting parents that he could turn his students into world-class athletes, allowing them to secure college scholarships. He reportedly abused young women, Nessel said, using force, fraud and coercion against the young athletes who came to him for gymnastics training for his own financial benefit.

Nessel said there are fewer than 50 victims involved in the case, all of whom were minors at the time the crimes are reported to have taken place. She declined to go into detail on many of the charges, saying only that the charges would be proven in court.

Geddert also made false or misleading statements to authorities investigating Nassar for criminal sexual conduct, according to the attorney general's office complaint.

"Many of these victims still carry these scars from his behavior to this day," Nessel said.

Geddert had insisted he had "zero knowledge" of Nassar's crimes, although some gymnasts said he forced them to see Nassar and was physically abusive, according to The Associated Press.

Nassar was a doctor at Michigan State University and was sentenced to decades in prison on charges of sexually assaulting gymnasts at the school and elsewhere, as well as possessing child pornography.

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. A prosecutor read that accuser's anonymous statement in court, The Associated Press reported.

Geddert was suspended by Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics during the Nassar scandal. He told families in 2018 that he was retiring, according to The Associated Press.