San Jose State opens new investigation into claims athletic trainer Scott Shaw inappropriately touched swimmers

Scott Shaw, who has served as San Jose State’s director of sports medicine since 2008, allegedly touched female athletes beneath their undergarments, massaging their breasts and pelvic areas when they sought treatment for other parts of their bodies.

The university’s first investigated Shaw  in late 2009 based on complaints by  17 members of San Jose State’s women’s swimming and diving team. Their accounts are documented in a nearly 300-page file compiled by the swim coach, Sage Hopkins. The coach notified campus police at the time, the file shows, but Shaw was never arrested or charged.

Shaw came to San Jose State as an associate head athletic trainer in 2006. He served as the women’s swimming and diving team’s primary trainer at the time and continued working with the team after his promotion two years later to sports medicine director, a position he still holds.

Since the first investigation, Shaw has served as the head trainer for all sports and the primary trainer for men’s basketball, men’s soccer and women’s golf. According to the University, Shaw is not treating athletes during the current investigation.

Swimmers who filed the initial accusations against Shaw, criticized the school for the way it conducted the first investigation.

Rather than investigate their complaints individually, San Jose State said it investigated a formal complaint from one swimmer. The other swimmers’ claims were treated as witness statements, it said. The school closed the case without sharing the outcome with any of them beyond the one complainant.

Sexual assault victim’s attorney John Manly called the allegations in this case and the University’s response “ Shockingly similar to the way Michigan State University mishandled the investigation into former gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar.”

“Like Larry Nassar, Scott Shaw has been accused of using medical treatment as a pretense to sexually assault young female athletes. And like MSU, San Jose State brushed aside the complaints of more than a dozen of these women and allowed Shaw continued access to athletes for more than a decade. Even worse they gave him a promotion! San Jose State cannot be trusted to conduct a second investigation into Shaw. There should be in independent investigation conducted by law enforcement agencies. said Mr. Manly.

Mr. Manly and his firm, Manly Stewart& Finaldi, were the lead attorneys for victims of Larry Nassar and secured a $500 million settlement with MSU for their clients.

Manly, Stewart & Finaldi has also  represented hundreds of child sexual abuse victims of teachers and coaches in California schools.   In each of these cases we have helped victims and families get justice by conducting a thorough investigation of the organization and the school . In many cases we have discovered that administrators and executives  know that the perpetrator was a danger to children and either did nothing or actively covered up the crimes.

If you were abused by Scott Shaw do not contact San Jose State University. Call the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department and report directly to them.