Accuser of OSU doctor sentenced for phone harassment

The first person to report allegations of sexual abuse against Ohio State University team doctor Richard Strauss was sentenced Thursday to a suspended 180 day jail sentence following a conviction for telephone harassment.

Michael H. DiSabato, 50, of Dublin, was convicted in August of misdemeanor telephone harassment, stemming from an unrelated criminal trial in Marysville Municipal Court.

Marysville Municipal Court Judge Michael Grigsby suspended 180 days of the sentence, meaning DiSabato will face no immediate incarceration. He also was fined $ 1,000 and faces three years probation.

In October 2017, Bret Adams, an attorney and sports agent, filed a complaint with Dublin police.

According to police DiSabato records, DiSabato was repeatedly warned to stop sending text messages to Adams and eventually was given a cease- and- desist order.

In November, he responded to an officer’s order to refrain from texting.

A month later, he resumed his contact with Adams, after Adams filed a lawsuit against him in Union County.

DiSabato sent a letter in January to the university alleging that Strauss, who is dead, had sexually abused him in the 1980s when DiSabato was an OSU wrestler.

It was followed by more than 150 similar complaints by former athletes, students and witnesses.