Nassar figure charged
The sex abuse scandal at Michigan State University widens as a former dean is accused of preying on students.
EAST LANSING, Mich. — The sexual abuse scandal at Michigan State University widened Tuesday when authorities charged a former dean not only with failing to keep sports doctor Larry Nassar in line but with sexually harassing female students and pressuring them for nude selfies.
William Strampel, 70, is the first person charged since an investigation was launched in January into how Michigan State handled complaints against Nassar, who for years sexually violated girls and young women, especially gymnasts, with his fingers during examinations.
Strampel, who as dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine oversaw the clinic where Nassar worked, neglected his duty to enforce examining-room restrictions he imposed on Nassar after a patient accused the doctor in 2014 of sexual contact, authorities alleged. Nassar was not supposed to treat patients near any “sensitive areas” on the body without a chaperone present. Because Strampel did not follow up to make sure Nassar was complying, the doctor was able to commit additional sexual assaults until he was fired two years later, prosecutors said.
The criminal complaint also accused Strampel of soliciting nude photos from at least one female medical student and using his office to “harass, discriminate, demean, sexually proposition, and sexually assault female students in violation of his statutory duty as a public officer.”
His work computer contained about 50 photos of female genitalia, nude and semi-nude women, sex toys and pornography, prosecutors said. “Many of these photos are of what appear to be ‘selfies’ of female MSU students, as evidenced by the MSU clothing and piercings featured in multiple photos,” according to the complaint. Strampel was also accused of grabbing two students’ buttocks.
Strampel spent Monday night in jail and was released Tuesday on $25,000 bail. The felony and misdemeanor charges — misconduct in office, criminal sexual conduct and two counts of neglect of duty — carry maximum penalties ranging from a year to five years behind bars.
“My client denies that he ever engaged in any inappropriate touching of anyone, any student or otherwise,” said his attorney, John Dakmak. “He denies that there was any quid pro quo for sexual favors in exchange for any type of standing within the university, or the medical school.”
Dakmak also disputed the notion that Strampel neglected his duty to oversee Nassar, saying it was the responsibility of the university’s Title IX investigators to ensure Nassar abided by the restrictions on his practice.
Bill Forsyth, hired as special prosecutor by Michigan’s attorney general to investigate the university, would not discuss the photos on Strampel’s computer or how Strampel obtained them.
Nassar, 54, pleaded guilty to molesting patients and possessing child pornography and was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison earlier this year after roughly 200 women gave powerful statements against him in two courtrooms over 10 extraordinary days.
Strampel told authorities in 2017 that he did not check to see if Nassar was obeying the examining-room restrictions because Nassar had been “exonerated” in an investigation by police and the university. At least 12 reported assaults occurred after the probe ended, according to university police.
Nassar was fired in 2016 for violating the chaperone rules.