Sexual Abuse

A master agreement in a lawsuit against former OSU team physician Richard Strauss says a mediator can decide if plaintiffs who settled in an earlier case are owed more.

The parents of the 16 children found in deplorable conditions in a house in the village of Hamden now face sex abuse charges involving a child who is not a member of the immediate family.

Almost 300 abuse survivors have spent the last few years suing the university while many others agreed to earlier settlements. All but one of the remaining 280 people have agreed.

William VanSickle, Christopher Riggs and Kenneth Holycross were all either charged or pled guilty to crimes ranging from voyeurism to raping children since mid-April. The three men are from Miami, Muskingum and Perry counties and all, at one point, worked for LifeWise as volunteers or teachers.

Jeffrey Happ served as the chief for the Columbus Division of Fire for several years before retiring in January. Happ said he and other high school athletes were sexually assaulted by Richard Strauss during an Ohio State University Athletics Department study in the 1980s.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed the motion Sunday, arguing that Ohio State was immune from alleged abuse claims that happened before Oct. 21, 1986.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Watson denied a motion to quash a subpoena, compelling Les Wexner to testify in the case. Strauss sexually abused hundreds of students while he worked at Ohio State between the 1970s and 1998.

The settlements total $800,000, or $100,000 for each survivor.

Officials at Ohio State have refused the request of a Dr. Richard Strauss abuse survivor to remove Les Wexner's name from the Woody Hayes' Athletic Center.

In a second vote to remove Whitehall City Councilman Gerald Dixon, his fellow council members were split three to three on Tuesday. Dixon is accused of sexually abusing underage boys.