A former athletic trainer at San Jose State University pleaded guilty Tuesday to unlawfully groping four women who came to him for medical care, prosecutors said.
Appearing in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, former trainer Scott Shaw admitted that he violated the civil rights of the women, who were student athletes, by touching their breasts and buttocks without their consent in between 2017 and 2020, federal. prosecutors said in a statement.
Mr. Shaw was charged in March 2022 with six misdemeanor counts of deprivation of civil rights under color of law. The charges were announced less than a year after San Jose State agreed to pay about $3.3 million to 15 women who accused Mr. Shaw of wrongdoing. The misconduct detailed in the federal charges occurred years after the university first became aware of concerns about Mr. Shaw to women under his care, the Justice Department said.
“Scott Shaw abused his position of trust and authority as a public university official to sexually assault female student-athletes who entrusted him with their medical care,” said Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for in the civil rights division of the Justice Department, in the statement announcing the guilty plea.
Mr. pleaded guilty. Shaw nearly two weeks after a federal jury failed to reach a verdict on six counts against Mr. Shaw. As part of the plea agreement, Mr. Shaw that he inappropriately touched the four women but pleaded guilty to only two of the six misdemeanor counts. He faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a fine of up to $200,000 and two years of supervised release when he is sentenced on Nov. 14.
Lawyers for Mr. Shaw did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
In 2021, end of the Justice Department that San Jose State failed to respond for more than a decade to sexual harassment reports against Mr. Shaw. The negligence violated Title IX, a law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools that receive federal funding. The university reached a settlement with the Justice Department, whose investigations, along with other federal authorities, found at least 23 women who were inappropriately touched by Mr. Shaw.
Mr. admitted Shaw on Tuesday said he abused four women between 2017 and 2020, when he resigned after 14 years as San Jose State’s director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer, prosecutors said. Mr. agreed. Shaw that he touched patients by their breasts and buttocks without a legitimate medical purpose and without consent, they said.
During a treatment session in the fall of 2017, Mr. Shaw grabbed the breasts of a member of the university’s women’s water polo team after massaging the back of her shoulders and neck, prosecutors said.
From 2017 to 2019, Mr. Shaw treated another member of the women’s water polo team. During one session, prosecutors said, he moved his hands from her neck to her chest and touched her breasts under her dress.
Held by Mr. Shaw groped another water polo player’s breasts under her clothing in the spring of 2019, prosecutors said, even though he was supposed to be treating her for a shoulder injury.
Between 2019 and 2020, prosecutors said, Mr. Shaw twice treated a player on the women’s soccer team for back pain. For the first time, Mr. Shaw her breasts and bottom as he examines her spine. The second time, he held her bottom under her clothes while he applied electrotherapy patches known as “stim pads.”
San Jose State said in a statement Tuesday that the university is “committed to preventing sexual misconduct.”
“Those harmed by Scott Shaw’s actions have borne the burden for years and patiently waited for their day in court,” the university said. “We hope they feel some validation in this result.”
Mr. Shaw is not the first member of the medical staff to face legal consequences for inappropriate behavior against student athletes. Lawrence G. Nassar, a former physician who spent years on the faculty at Michigan State University, treating its athletes as well as members of the US national gymnastics team, was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison in 2018 for sexual abuse of girls and youth. women during medical examination.
