EAST LANSING, Mich. – A sexual abuse scandal at Michigan State University widened Tuesday as authorities charged a medical school official with failing to keep former sports doctor Larry Nassar in line and accused him of groping female students and storing nude student selfies on his campus computer.
William Strampel, 70, is the first person charged since a broad investigation was launched in January into how Michigan State handled complaints against Nassar, who for years sexually abused girls and young women, especially gymnasts.
Strampel was dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine until December. He was Nassar’s boss, yet he failed to enforce restrictions on him after a female patient in 2014 complained about sexual contact, authorities alleged.
Strampel spent Monday night in jail ahead of an arraignment Tuesday afternoon. His attorney, John Dakmak, declined to comment.
The complaint, which alleges Strampel solicited nude photos from at least one female medical student, said he used his office to “harass, discriminate, demean, sexually proposition and sexually assault female students in violation of his statutory duty as a public officer.”
His computer contained approximately 50 photos of female genitalia, nude and semi-nude women, sex toys and pornography. “Many of these photos are of what appear to be ‘selfies’ of female MSU students, as evidence by the MSU clothing and piercings featured in multiple photos,” according to the complaint.
He is also accused of grabbing students’ buttocks at the college’s annual ball and a scholarship dinner.
