Former San Jose State trainer charged with sexual assault

The former director of sports medicine at San Jose State University has been charged with civil rights violations for sexual misconduct with female student-athletes, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

The 54-year-old suspect, an athletic trainer at the university, assaulted the student-athletes under the guise of treating them for injuries, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors said that between 2017 and 2020, he violated the civil rights of four students who played on women’s athletic teams by touching their breasts and buttocks without their consent and without legitimate purpose and is alleged to have acted under color of law when he sexually assaulted the victims.

He faces a maximum of six years in prison if he is convicted of all counts.

He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in San Jose on Tuesday.