Photo: MARVIN RECINOS / AFP / Getty Images
A judge sentenced a masseur to three prison terms of 25 years to life imprisonment for various sexual offenses against five people, including a girl and three soccer players from the University of Kansas.
Douglas County Judge Sally Pokorny convicted after jurors in August found him guilty of eight counts.
Three of the counts indicate to O’Brien for indecent liberties against a child under 14 years for fondling a girl 9 or 10 years three times between 2013 and 2015.
The three charges resulted in sentences of “25 hard”, which means to have must serve at least 25 years in prison before being eligible for parole.
Pokorny said all three life sentences would be served at the same time, the Lawrence Journal-World noted.
Three of the women played for the University of Kansas soccer team.
The fourth victim was a college student, a client of his office.
O’Brien had a contract with the university to provide massage treatments to many athletes in the campus.
That contract was terminated after initial charges were filed.
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Seiden told members of the jury during closing arguments that O’Brien used his credentials as a professional masseuse as a disguise to fondle the victims when he was giving them massages.
Seiden also pointed to the testimony of the soccer players who claimed that O’Brien stroked them, while providing massage therapy to the team.
O’Brien claimed not to recall any of the incidents with the athletes.
Defense attorney Philip Sedgwick argued that the case came down to a “he said, she said “And suggested that prosecutors did not present sufficient evidence to convict the masseuse.
He said that the athletes did not complain about his methods or let him know that what I was doing made them uncomfortable.
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