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Ohio State whistleblower gets probation in harassment case

January 18, 2019 GMT

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Mike DiSabato, left, turns himself in for arrest by an officer at Franklin County Municipal Court in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. DiSabato, whose claims helped spur the investigation into alleged, decades-old sexual abuse by an Ohio State team doctor, was jailed in a tangentially related telecommunications harassment case after missing a court date that he says he was misinformed about and never intended to skip. (AP Photo/Kantele Franko)

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The whistleblower who helped spur an investigation into alleged, decades-old sexual abuse by an Ohio State team doctor has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor telecommunications harassment charge in a tangentially related case.

A municipal court judge on Friday sentenced 50-year-old Mike DiSabato, of Dublin, to two years of probation. A six-month jail sentence is suspended as long as he follows the judge’s instructions, including not contacting the university-affiliated administrator he was accused of harassing via email.

DiSabato argues that the man harassed him through public criticism.

Messages seeking comment were left Friday for DiSabato and his lawyer.

The former Buckeyes wrestler is among the more than 150 men alleging they experienced sexual misconduct by now-deceased Dr. Richard Strauss, mostly in the 1980s and ’90s.

Strauss died in 2005.