Former Grand Rapids gymnastics coach convicted of sexually abusing young girls

Shannon Guay takes the stand in his criminal sexual conduct case on April 24, 2024. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)

With Grand Rapids-area gymnastics coach Shannon Guay, 51, facing at least 50 years in prison for sexually abusing several young girls, the victims, now women, had time in court Wednesday to tell the judge at sentencing , how the abuse affected her life and spoke on behalf of her younger self.

When she found out there were other girls who were abused, other people who survived Guay, she gave a woman the drive she needed to move forward with her life, a survivor said in a victim impact statement prepared by the deputy district attorney Elizabeth Bartlett was read out.

“You should be my trainer, you should teach me how to do a full on the floor, not rape me in a locker room and attack me on the gym floor,” the now 28-year-old said in his statement. old said.

That woman and the 13 other women, some of whom were athletes under Guay’s care and who testified during Guay’s trial earlier this year, remain anonymous in media coverage under the judge’s order because they were all minors at the time of their contact with Guay .

The woman’s victim impact statement continued that Guay not only stole her sense of security and peace, but also caused long-term damage to her physical body.

“How dare you, [you] I stole something so pure and innocent that it changed my identity. They traumatized me, altered my brain pathways, and harmed the little girl with a bright smile and a resilient spirit. … I have struggled with an eating disorder for over a decade and hate my body because of you,” the statement read. “Lost identity, tarnished dreams of who I could have become, washed away by your own selfish desire to take over and dominate a child’s body again and again.”

This victim’s story was the one that brought to light all of the other women’s stories. In her testimony, she recounted how, in 2023, she called a gym where Guay used to work to report what he had done to her when she was 10 years old.

“The 10-year-old version of me called her old gym. … She made a phone call,” the woman said in her victim impact statement. “And everything has changed.”

Calls have come from across Michigan and other states such as Florida, Texas and California to report criminal behavior by Guay that has been going on for 20 years, Bartlett told the Michigan Advance in the summer of 2023.

In April, Guay was found guilty of 21 counts of criminal sexual conduct and one count of kidnapping.

Mark Hunting, Guay’s defense attorney, pointed to the lack of evidence during the trial and advised the jury in April to avoid reasonable doubt because it was a “she said-he said” case.

But as prosecutors argued, there were more than a few “she said” in the case, and when 17th Circuit Judge Paul Denenfeld handed down the sentence, effectively life in prison, WOOD TV reports He reflected on the level of violence seen throughout the case and how it impacted his 16 years as a judge.

“That’s at the top of the list. The number of victims that there are in this case, the age of many of these victims when they were sexually abused, Mr. Guay’s situation of having access to many of these young people of different ages… make this case different in my opinion, perhaps even than any other case I’ve had,” Denenfeld said, according to WOOD TV. “I think this case probably represents as much harm as any other case I’ve led.”

Another woman, in her victim impact statement in court, recalled that her knees buckled when she picked up the phone and called an investigator working on the case to ask about Guay.

“It was like someone was asking me to rip off a 20-year-old scab. Long afraid and hidden from most of the people around me. I opened it to see how big the festering wound still was after all this time. Then I had to cut some of it out and put it here on the table for everyone to see,” the woman said.

Guay did not comment when given the opportunity during sentencing. MLive Reports Guay rolled his eyes as the women shared their victim impact statements.

Guay had worked in gymnastics, dance and martial arts facilities across West Michigan from the 1990s to the 2010s, and everywhere he went he took away young girls’ innocence to “feel powerful himself,” the woman told the court. Guay maintained his innocence throughout the trial.

“You are a pedophile, a manipulator, a rapist and a monster and a coward because you pray for your own vile gratification for young, innocent girls,” the woman said.

The woman who made the first call to the gym, the call that launched the investigation into Guay, said in her victim impact statement that over the last year she had learned strength tools and gained the confidence she needed to work full time as a student Social work so that one day she can help traumatized children who have suffered the same ordeals.

“I hope to be a light for these people, show them that they are not alone and also help them find their lost, lasting spirit,” she said.

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