photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Shawn O'Brien, pictured in February 2020

Updated at 4:33 p.m. Thursday

A jury in Douglas County District Court on Thursday found a Lawrence massage therapist guilty of committing several sex crimes against five people, one of whom was a child and three of whom were soccer players at the University of Kansas at the time of the incidents.

The jury convicted Shawn P. O’Brien, 50, of the eight charges he was facing. Three of the charges accused O’Brien of indecent liberties with a child under the age of 14 for allegedly fondling a girl who was either 9 or 10 on three occasions between 2013 and 2015.

All three were off-grid felony charges and could result in a “hard 25” life sentence — which mandates at least 25 years in prison before the possibility of parole. O’Brien is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 24.

The other five charges accused him of sexual battery, a misdemeanor, for fondling four women while giving them a massage to treat athletic-related issues, including alleviating pain around their groins, between 2016 and 2019. Three of the women played for KU’s soccer team. O’Brien had a contract with Kansas Athletics to provide massage treatments to many athletes on KU’s campus. The contract was terminated after initial charges were filed against him, the Journal-World previously reported. The fourth woman was a KU student who played Ultimate Frisbee and was a client at O’Brien’s office.

The jury returned the verdict around 3 p.m., just a few hours after deliberations began midday on Thursday. With the verdict, Judge Sally Pokorny ordered O’Brien to be taken into custody to await sentencing.

After hearing Pokorny read the verdict on all eight counts, the women who testified in the case could be seen crying and hugging in the courtroom. Meanwhile, O’Brien appeared to be slumped over and staring at the ground until deputies took him into custody.

“Mr. O’Brien abused his position as a massage therapist to gain access to victims,” Douglas County District Attorney Suzanne Valdez said in a news release. “Girls and women deserve to feel safe when turning to a practitioner for help, and this office will prosecute accordingly.”

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During closing arguments earlier on Thursday, Deputy District Attorney Joshua Seiden told the jury O’Brien used his credentials as a professional massage therapist as a guise to fondle the alleged victims. He pointed to testimony from all five of them, who said O’Brien’s alleged crimes occurred when he was giving them massages.

Seiden said O’Brien not only ran a successful massage therapy business, but he successfully perpetrated a “sexual exploitation scheme.”

The girl testified that all three incidents occurred when she was sleeping over at O’Brien’s home, which occurred a few times because their families were friends, Seiden said. The girl said that O’Brien came up to her during the night while she was lying down and everyone else was sleeping and gave her a massage that began at her head, but eventually led to him fondling her genitals, Seiden said. She said this happened two other times and once after she repeatedly told him she didn’t want a massage.

The girl also testified that she didn’t realize she was being sexually abused until she was in middle school when she learned what sexual abuse was, Seiden said. When she was a freshman and struggling in school, she eventually went to therapy, where she told a therapist what had happened and began a criminal investigation.

Seiden also pointed to the testimony from the KU soccer players. They all said that O’Brien fondled them while he was providing massage therapy for the team. The KU athletes specifically testified that he touched their genitals under their clothing while applying hot stones to sore areas without asking for permission, Seiden said.

Seiden also noted that O’Brien claimed to not remember any of the incidents with the KU athletes. When O’Brien took the stand to testify on Wednesday, he often answered questions about what he would or wouldn’t do during a massage, saying he would ask a client if he could place a hot stone under their clothing before doing it. However, Seiden repeatedly asked him what he did do, as opposed to what he would do, specifically with the KU athletes who testified against him. O’Brien repeatedly said he did not recall any of their massage sessions.

Meanwhile, O’Brien’s attorney, Philip Sedgwick, argued that the case came down to a “he said, she said” situation, suggesting the prosecutors did not present enough evidence to convict O’Brien.

He said the testimony from the five alleged victims conflicted with the testimony of others, such as O’Brien’s children, who said they were playing with the girl until 5 a.m., which Sedgwick said did not allow time for O’Brien to commit the alleged abuse on the girl.

Additionally, he said O’Brien could not be found guilty of the alleged sexual battery against the KU athletes because there was no evidence that proved he intended to fondle the women. He pointed to testimony from O’Brien and his ex-wife, who worked with him as a massage therapist, that they had given thousands of massages over the years, and incidental contact with a woman’s genitalia was possible when placing the hot stones on a woman’s groin. He said if it was his intent to abuse women during the massages, he believed there would be hundreds of cases.

He also said the athletes did not complain about O’Brien’s methods or let him know that what he was doing made them uncomfortable.

“This really doesn’t make any sense,” Sedgwick said to the jury.