SAN JOSE — Disgraced former San Jose State sports medicine director Scott Shaw pleaded not guilty Tuesday to six counts of violating the civil rights of women athletes who say Shaw sexually abused them under his care.
It was Shaw’s first public appearance since a USA TODAY investigation published in April 2020 revealed the allegations against him for the first time. He appeared over Zoom, along with his attorney, in US District Court for the Northern District of California.
Shaw did not appear in handcuffs and was not placed in custody. he is charged with six counts of depriving four women athletes of their right to “bodily integrity, a right secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States,” according to court documents. Each count carries a maximum of one year in prison, meaning Shaw could face up to six years in jail if convicted on all of them.
Assistant US Attorney Michael Pitman said he expects more than 20 alleged victims to be presented at trial. According to Pitman, the facts will show Shaw engaged in “more than a decade-long scheme” in which he used his position of authority at San Jose State to “gain access to female student-athletes at the school and sexually assault them.” He said he expects the case to last a long period of time.
Shaw was released unsupervised on an unsecured $10,000 bond. His travel throughout the US will be restricted after April 20, when Shaw completes an RV road trip he is currently on with his significant other that includes a stop at the Frozen Four national hockey college championships in Boston next month, according to his attorney for him Sam Polverino.
“I never thought this day would come,” said Sage Hopkins, San Jose State’s swimming and diving coach, who reported Shaw’s abuse to school officials repeatedly from 2009 through 2020 and attended Shaw’s hearing Tuesday. “I think this is an important step for the women moving forward. I look forward to him facing charges in court.”
Shaw is alleged to have deprived the women of their rights “under color of law” – a misdemeanor under federal law that covers illegal acts committed by public officials pretending or purporting to be acting in their official duties.
All four women said Shaw touched their breasts with no legitimate reason while purporting to provide physical therapy treatments. Two of the women described two separate instances in which Shaw touched sensitive parts of their bodies inappropriately. In addition to touching their breasts, those two women said Shaw also touched their buttocks.
The six alleged incidents occurred over the span of two-and-a-half years beginning in fall 2017.
Two of the women athletes said Shaw assaulted them that failed, and one of them said Shaw assaulted her again sometime during the 2018-19 school year. The third woman said Shaw assaulted her in spring 2019. And the fourth woman said he assaulted her once in December 2019 and again in January or February 2020.
The charges do not cover any alleged abuse that occurred prior to 2017, as the statute of limitations for the specific offense he is accused of repeatedly committing lasts only five years from the date of the offense.
The conduct alleged in the six charges mirrors those that 17 swimmers brought to the school in late 2009. At that time, San Jose State’s human resources department conducted an investigation that found no wrongdoing.
Those women told the school that Shaw touched them beneath their undergarments, massaging their breasts and pelvic areas when they sought treatment for other parts of their bodies. San Jose State treated it as one complaint — with the other women’s accounts considered witness statements — and accepted the treatment as “trigger point” or “pressure point” massage therapy.
Shaw was never disciplined following the initial investigation, and he remained in his position as sports medicine director for the next 10 years, during which time he continued to treat female athletes. I have resigned in August 2020.
A reinvestigation by the California State University system refuted the initial investigation’s findings. Launched in late 2019 by then-San Jose State President Mary Papazian, it concluded in February 2021 that Shaw was responsible for sexual misconduct.
Conducted by private attorneys, the reinvestigation found Shaw’s treatments lacked medical basis, ignored proper protocols and violated the university’s sexual harassment policies.
Two current athletes gave statements to investigators describing inappropriate touching by Shaw in the years since the initial probe. One woman said that in 2017 Shaw massaged her breasts under the guise of “pressure point therapy” without explaining the treatment. Another woman said Shaw grazed her ella breast and placed his hands on her buttocks on separate occasions in late 2019 and early 2020.
James Borchers, a physician and president of the US Council for Athlete’s Health, served as an expert witness in the reinvestigation. He said Shaw’s treatments were “improper” and “questionable in the most conservative manner,” according to a copy of the preliminary findings report from November obtained by USA TODAY.
Shaw disregarded normal procedures by failing to explain, justify, properly document and obtain informed consent for his treatments, which he performed without offering a chaperone and without proper oversight, certification and training, Borchers wrote in a four-page analysis. Massaging the breast and groin area is generally inappropriate absent clear medical circumstances necessitating such contact, and it is “not ethical to reach under clothing in a sensitive area in any situation,” Borchers wrote.
A Department of Justice investigation released in September largely faulted the school’s response, saying officials failed to adequately respond to reports of sexual harassment and assault by Shaw for more than a decade.
“SJSU’s actions gave the Athletic Trainer unfettered access to student-athletes and led students to feel that further reports of sexual harassment would be futile,” the DOJ wrote.
That investigation found that Shaw “engaged in unwelcome sexual touching” of an athlete a month after the school instructed him in January 2020 not to treat athletes anymore. The school had previously issued similar broad directives to not treat female athletes, including female swimmers specifically, but did not enforce them.
Contact Kenny Jacoby at [email protected] and Rachel Axon at [email protected].
www.usatoday.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism