Massage therapist working with KU women’s sports teams charged with child sex crime

University of Kansas officials said Thursday they have opened an internal investigation after a massage therapist who worked with student athletes was charged with a child sex crime.

Shawn Paul O’Brien, 48, of Lawrence, had been contracted by Kansas Athletics to provide massage services to women’s athletics teams since 2015, according to university officials.

That contract was terminated after O’Brien was arrested in February. He has been charged in Douglas County District Court with one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child under 14.

After the arrest, the university launched an internal investigation led by an outside entity, KU Chancellor Douglas Girod and Kansas Athletics Director Jeff Long said in a written statement.

“Though still in the early stages of this process, we are deeply troubled by what we have learned so far,” the statement said. “At this time, we are providing support to our student-athletes, parents and staff who have been impacted by this therapist’s association to this university.”

The statement did not detail the information university officials have learned so far in their investigation.

University officials plan to partner with the Lawrence Memorial Hospital and University of Kansas Health System to learn more about O’Brien’s conduct, and more about who may have known about any potential inappropriate interaction that may have occurred, according to the statement.

O’Brien is listed as operating Kamehameha Massage LLC, according to Kansas business records. He owned the business starting in 2009. It dissolved in February 2019 because O’Brien became the “sole proprietor,” according to state records.

O’Brien is not the first individual working with KU women’s sports to be charged with a crime.

Last year, Skyler Nicholas Yee, a former volunteer women’s volleyball coach, was charged with 15 counts of burglary, theft and criminal damage to property.

He was accused of stealing underwear and other clothing from former and current members of the KU volleyball team.

Other cases

Other universities across the country have launched investigations into potential inappropriate conduct of professionals working with student athletes.

Some investigations have found many students were abused.

At Michigan State University, hundreds of athletes alleged Dr. Larry Nassar, an employee at the college, sexually abused them under the guise of treatment. The university agreed to pay $500 million to the more than 300 women and girls who said they were sexually assaulted by Nassar.

Ohio State University released a report that found a doctor sexually abused at least 177 male students during his tenure at the university. The report found Dr. Richard Strauss, who was employed at the school in between the 1970s and 1990s, groped or ogled young men while treating athletes from at least 16 different sports.

Lawsuits against the University of Michigan, filed by a former hockey player, a former wrestler and two football players, alleged the university failed to protect them from sexual abuse by Dr. Robert E. Anderson.

Anderson was a team physician for the university’s athletic department. The lawsuits allege officials were aware of Anderson’s sexual abuse and failed to protect students.

This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 4:16 PM.