GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Larry Nassar, the disgraced ex-doctor for Michigan State University and U.S. Olympic gymnasts, told a judge he was ashamed of his addiction to child pornography.

"This is very difficult, as you can imagine, standing here," Nassar said on Thursday, Dec. 7.

"I've been battling with this, obviously for a considerable period of time. It's something, your honor, I'm very ashamed of. ... I've lost everything because of this. ... You wonder how I got down this path to begin with."

U.S. District Judge Janet Neff called Nassar, 54, a predator who posed a serious danger to children if he was ever let out of prison.

She essentially assured he will stay locked up for life - barring successful appeal - by ordering Nassar to serve 60 years in federal prison, a sentence to run consecutive to sentences next month in Eaton and Ingham counties for sexual assault.

She said that Nassar is in one of three sets of child pornographers, the most dangerous, those who act out on children.

"Mr. Nassar is the paradigm of that group," Neff said. "He has demonstrated he should never again have access to children."

Those in the packed courtroom, including sex-assault victims and their families, looked on as Nassar, in an orange jail jumpsuit with a white sweatshirt underneath, acknowledged his failings.

But the soft-spoken man wanted the judge to see another side. A divorced father of three, he still considers himself a decent, God-fearing family man.

He vowed to work on self-improvement every day.

"I really did try to be a good person. I really did try to help people. The thought of the pain it caused other people is one of the things I've asked my priest to pray for."

He said his troubles could be used for good, to prevent other children from "being caught in a similar trap. I've always been a man of faith. I've asked for forgiveness. I've asked God to heal the victims."

He said he hoped that someday, his victims can forgive him.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Lewis said Nassar had a "shockingly large" collection of child pornography, with 37,000 images. The abuse of children in those images would pain others but provided Nassar with sexual pleasure, Lewis said.

"His actions fuel the demand for the product," he said.

He said that one of the girls Nassar sexually assaulted wrote that "I was the real life child pornography subject, his plaything."

Lewis said: "He was a doctor. Someone we should trust and listen to. He was a doctor of children. They trusted him and he violated that trust."

He said that Nassar was once viewed as "larger than life," serving at the team doctor at four Olympics. He kept his athletes' memorabilia in his office.

Lewis sought the maximum sentence because, given the chance, Nassar "will offend again."

Neff said Nassar was supposed to be a healer but cause so much pain. He had the trust of many but betrayed them. He let his "dark side" lead him.

"You wonder if he felt omnipotent," the judge said. In one instance, she said, he molested a girl while her mother was in the examining room.

"This is really devastating to them," the judge said.

Defense attorneys Matthew Newburg and Shannon Smith said Nassar will appeal his sentence, which includes the consecutive terms. He was sentenced to 20 years each for possession and receipt of child pornography and obstruction of justice.

Nassar was on the faculty of MSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine from 1997 until his firing in September 2016 when his sex crimes came to light. He was also a practitioner at the school's sports-medicine clinic.