Trainer colleague in San Jose State sex assault trial says no reason to touch athletes’ breasts
Scott Shaw's former colleague said that she had heard rumors about past accusations against the embattled trainer, but acknowledged that she would still refer athletes to him. and never noticed any "red flags" during his treatments.
SAN JOSE — In the courtroom Thursday where San Jose State’s former head athletic trainer is accused of sexually assaulting female athletes, prosecutors placed a faceless, full-sized mannequin in a black sports bra and blue shorts before the jury.
A former colleague – herself an athletic trainer – stepped down from the witness stand and with her hands on the silver-toned mannequin showed the eight women and five men in the jury box where she would touch female athletes if they had shoulder and back pain.
“Can you remember a time when you reached into the cup of a woman’s bra and touched her breast in order to treat a shoulder injury?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Pitman asked?
“I’ve never done that,” said Stephanie Conrad, who worked as a graduate assistant and athletic trainer at San Jose State from 2017 to 2019.
“Can you remember if you ever reached into a woman’s bra and touched her areola or nipple for any reason at all?” he asked.
“I’ve never done that,” Conrad said.
If she ever needed to get close to a sensitive area, she said, she would always ask permission.
Conrad’s testimony came during the first full day of testimony in the federal criminal trial against Scott Shaw, who has maintained he was using legitimate medical treatment when he touched student athletes under their bras and underwear during treatments. Shaw, 56, resigned from San Jose State in 2020 more than a decade after 17 female swimmers first accused him of sexually assaulting them under the guise of treatment. University officials allowed him to continue treating women for another 11 years after an in-house investigation, which was lambasted as botched in subsequent investigations, cleared Shaw of wrongdoing in 2010.
The scandal became public in 2020 after swim coach Sage Hopkins, upset that his ongoing concerns were ignored by university leaders, took his complaints outside the university. The former university president and athletic director resigned in the scandal’s aftermath. The school has since paid out more than $5 million in settlements to victims and was ordered by the U.S. Department of Justice to revamp its Title IX office and make other changes for athlete safety.
Shaw has pleaded not guilty to six federal civil rights charges against him involving four women who came forward since 2017, within the 5-year statute of limitations, maintaining as he did in 2010 that his ”trigger point therapy” was legitimate medical treatment. In opening statements earlier this week, Shaw’s defense lawyer Dave Callaway told jurors that the accusations against Shaw were fanned by “team chemistry” among female athletes supporting each other and rethinking their past interactions with Shaw.
Under cross examination by co-defense lawyer Jeremy Blank, Conrad acknowledged that she spoke with Hopkins, the swim coach, regularly and was aware that he was not, as Blank said, “a fan of Scott Shaw.” The women’s basketball coach, she said, also did not want her athletes treated by him, either, but Conrad did not explain why.
Conrad said that she had heard rumors about past accusations against Shaw, but acknowledged that she would still refer athletes to him. She never noticed any “red flags” during his treatments.
After Blank listed the four victims involved in the charges against Shaw, Conrad said that none of the ones she knew ever expressed concerns about Shaw.
“You never heard anybody complain about Scott Shaw’s treatment, did you?” Blank asked.
“No,” she said.
The trial will resume Thursday afternoon when another athletic trainer will take the stand.