EAST LANSING, Mich. – The former dean of osteopathic medicine at Michigan State is heading to jail in connection with the university's handling of the Larry Nassar abuse scandal.
William Strampel, 71, stood silently Wednesday as an Ingham County judge delivered a sentence of one year in jail. He's the first MSU official to go behind bars since Nassar was convicted.
Some of the women who said they dealt with his manipulations and abuse of power spoke up during the proceedings.
Ingham County Judge Joyce Draganchuk reviewed the guilty verdict and listened to women who came forward to give victim impact statements about Strampel's impact on their lives.
"The very first time that this man met me, he asked how old I was, and then he made a deliberate choice to talk about someone his age and my exact age having sex," Leah Jackson said. "The second choice he made in that interaction -- he decided to joke about the possibility of seeing naked pictures of me."
Strampel was found guilty of two counts of willful neglect of duty having to do with his supervision of Nassar and one count of misconduct in office over how he attempted to manipulate multiple female students in his role as dean, officials said.
"I remember walking out of Dean Strampel's office with the sound of his voice still ringing in my ear, of him warning me not to disclose our meeting with anyone, threatening to ruin my reputation by telling people we were having sex," assistant Attorney General Danielle Hagaman-Clark read from a letter written by another victim. "I pray that no one will have to experience the feeling of hopelessness, despair and depression as your dreams and future are being held hostage in the hands of a person who has ill intentions."
Draganchuk went over the sentencing guidelines when handing down the sentence.
"You were convicted for using your position as the dean of the college of medicine to proposition, manipulate and, in my view, oppress women,"Â Draganchuk said.
Strampel has a pacemaker, which was an argument his attorney made for him to avoid jail time. But the judge didn't find that argument persuasive.