A 41-year-old woman had sex with some of the Ohio State football players after offering them massages, revealed a university report issued on Thursday.
The northeast Ohio woman's name is not mentioned, but is described as a licensed massage therapist.
On March 22, she agreed to give up her license in order to forgo a probe that she was involved in “sexual misconduct with one or more clients” as defined in the Ohio Administrative Code.
A complaint was filed on March 14, 2020, with the Medical Board of Ohio after which an investigation was started, reported USA Today.
According to the complaint, the woman allegedly offered free therapeutic massages to football players as a way to start sexual interactions.
Ohio State roped in the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg as special counsel to conduct an investigation.
As many as 117 current and former players and 44 current and former coaches and staff members were questioned regarding it. About 83 of them were not aware of it or didn't have interaction with the massage therapist. Twenty got non-sexual massages, and five had consensual sex with her.
The coaches or staff members had no knowledge of the massage therapist, the report said. “The investigation found no evidence that the massage therapist is or was acting on behalf of an agent or any particular person or entity in professional or collegiate sports, much less on behalf of OSU athletics," the report added.
"Rather, the facts indicate that she seemed to be acting for her own sexual gratification and that she acted alone.”
Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith said that the university chose to release the report to ensure transparency. The report revealed that the massage therapist sent explicit pictures and messages to players. She made false claims about being employed by professional sports teams.
The report said she would offer athletes a free massage or made them pay for the first one and then not charge them for the subsequent massages. She also provided them receipts.
"The investigation also found a robust and thorough compliance program, complemented by coaches and staff who interact with football student athletes about real-life situations," the report stated.
"...The incident that occurred with the massage therapist was not due to a lack of compliance training for the football student athletes. The OSU compliance program was found to be fulsome in its efforts to protect the physical and emotional well-being of its football student athletes, in addition to protecting against those who wish to take advantage of the football student athletes for their own gain."
In another incident, a 29-year-old man, who was working as a massage therapist, was recently accused of sexual misconduct with clients, said the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. Jhon Cabrera was allegedly involved in sexual misconduct with a female client while massaging her at a spa in Hackensack in April, reported NBC New York.
Cabrera was charged with criminal sexual contact.
