‘UNWANTED TOUCHING’

Former University of Kansas Massage Therapist Accused of Misconduct With Female Student Athletes

Shawn O’Brien, who was charged last month with indecent behavior with a child, provided free massages to University of Kansas students for almost 10 years.

A man who provided free massages to students at the University of Kansas for almost 10 years has been accused of inappropriately touching at least six female student athletes, school officials said on Tuesday. Shawn P. O’Brien, a 48-year-old massage therapist who was charged last month with one count of aggravated indecent behavior with a child, also “distributed gift cards that may have led to off-campus massages at his office,” Chancellor Doug Girard and athletic director Jeff Long said in a statement. “Investigators have determined an athletic trainer was aware of at least some reports of unwarranted and unwanted touching by the therapist but failed to appropriately report the conduct, as is required by the university,” the statement continued. The university swiftly ended O’Brien’s contract after he was charged. O’Brien’s attorney Philip Sedgwick claimed that his client is “innocent of these charges and that’s what will be found in court.”