University of Kansas massage therapist gets 3 life sentences for child sex crimes against a teen, student athletes

(The AEGIS Alliance) – A massage therapy specialist got sentenced to three life terms in prison for child sex crimes against a teenager and 3 female soccer players while he was employed by the University of Kansas.

Shawn O’Brien, age 50, is apparently not going to be eligible to get parole for 25 years and is going to serve the life sentences concurrently, the Lawrence World-Journal reported.

The Douglas County District Attorney’s Office released a statement that points out O’Brien has been found guilty of 3 counts of aggravated indecent liberties against a child below the age of 14 for apparently fondling the teen girl on 3 separate occasions between 2013 and 2015. O’Brien was additionally sentenced to one year in the Douglas County Jail for each of the 5 misdemeanor counts of sex-related assault and battery.

The victim is currently 17 and testified in the course of O’Brien’s trial. The teenager, that has not been identified due to her age, stated O’Brien gave her “massages” while she had been spending the night at his residence. The teenager’s mom and O’Brien were apparently good friends.

O’Brien apparently began the “massages” on top of her head and afterward worked his way down toward the inside of her underclothing.

The teen said to O’Brien prior to his sentencing, “I mean this in the most disrespectful way possible: I hope you rot in hell,” according to the Lawrence Journal-World.

O’Brien’s sex-related battery charges apparently originate from him fondling 4 females while he gave them massages for injuries that were sports-related between 2016 and 2019. O’Brien worked under a contract with the University of Kansas as a massage therapy specialist and also treated many athletes at the university starting in 2015. The arrangement was ended following the first charge against him that was submitted in March of 2020, a statement from the chancellor of the University of Kansas reads.

Victims provided psychological statements for 90 minutes, the Kansas City Star reported. A number of previous soccer players who attended the University of Kansas gave impact statements that District Attorney Suzanne Valdez, along with Assistant District Attorney Joshua Seiden read through out loud. A past athlete had written that Shawn O’Brien pulled her by her hair, choked her, and also inappropriately touched her that made her feel defenseless.

Shawn O’Brien apparently stated in the courtroom that “I really don’t have anything to say. There was no ill intent on my part, so I’ll apologize for any misunderstanding.”

The statement from Valdez said, “These sentences can’t erase what happened to the survivors, but I hope the strong message from the court can restore their sense of empowerment, safety, and justice. My office will not tolerate abuses of power and trust such as the actions by Mr. O’Brien.”

Jeffrey Childers – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.