INDIANAPOLIS — Three Butler University women's soccer players filed lawsuits Wednesday alleging the team's former athletic trainer sexually assaulted them and other members of the team.
According to the civil lawsuits, now-former athletic trainer Michael Howell is accused of assaults and other sexual misconduct over the course of "many years."
The alleged abuse occurred in Butler's training room, offices, buses and in Howell's private hotel rooms during away games. The suits claim the assaults happened while Howell was under the supervision of Butler's senior associate athletic director for student-athlete health, performance and well-being.
According to the suits, Howell's treatments included athletic massages that should have only lasted 10 minutes and targeted a specific area. Instead, the suits claim, Howell would give full-body massages and in a private room that could last hours.
The suits claim Howell told the women he had "files against all the players and would use them if they ever said anything bad about him." He also allegedly said, "If I go down, you all go down with me."
The suits also claim Howell would get upset if the players did not show up for treatments and had control over who could and could not play.
The suits claim that when six female athletes reported Howell's alleged misconduct and that he had been photographing and videotaping them, Butler University retained independent legal counsel to investigate.
Additionally, the suits claim Butler University alerted Howell to the investigation before contacting law enforcement or seizing his work-issued phone. The suits claim that allowed Howell to destroy and/or transfer likely lurid photographs and videos taken of the athletes.
The suits claim outside attorneys for Butler University confirmed the most serious parts of the allegations and that "Butler did not have a formal policies and procedures manual for its athletic trainers, lacked necessary safety protocols, and emphasized Howell's stark deviations from standard practices.
The suits go on to claim a Title IX panel "determined that Howell had sexually assaulted and harassed multiple members of the Butler women's soccer team."
The suits also claim "Butler has not reached out to a single former athlete to understand the depth of Howell's misconduct, offer help to those who may be survivors of his abuse, or otherwise take responsibility for the harm caused to athletes by someone under its employ."
The attorney for one of the alleged victims issued the following statement to 13News:
Our clients and other members of Butler women’s soccer team reported the abuse perpetrated against them by a predator employed by their University as an athletic trainer, and they subsequently proved their allegations through Butler’s Title IX process. These brave athletes have now filed suit and seek to obtain full justice for the harms they suffered, notify other athletes who may have been sexually assaulted while competing for Butler that they are not alone, and ensure that the predator once employed by Butler – who assaulted vulnerable female student-athletes multiple times, in multiple locations on and off campus - cannot hurt another athlete.
The players are suing for negligence, battery, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The suits are asking for damages for past, present and future physical and psychological pain, suffering and impairment, medical bills, counseling and other costs for past and future care.
A statement from Butler University to 13News reads:
The health, safety, and well-being of our campus community is always our top priority. In late September 2021, student-athletes on the women’s soccer team reported misconduct by Michael Howell, an assistant athletic trainer. Upon being informed of the allegations, the University promptly notified law enforcement, removed Howell from campus and suspended him from his job duties, pending further investigation. After a thorough investigation and hearing, the trainer was found responsible for violating University policies, and he was then terminated in summer 2022. Butler looks forward to the opportunity to show the high integrity and responsiveness of the coaches and senior personnel. Because the complaints do not name the plaintiffs and they have not waived federal student privacy protections, Butler is limited from further comment outside of the legal process.
A Butler University spokesperson turned down a request for an on-camera interview, but did say the university notified the Butler University Police Department.
13News was unable to find any criminal charges filed against Howell in Marion County concerning the alleged assaults. 13News was also unable to find an attorney for Howell to get a response to the lawsuits.
NOTE: 13News is not including copies of the lawsuits as they contain information that could be used to identify the alleged victims of sexual assault.