Following what many considered a lenient sentence for convicted rapist Brock Turner earlier this month, the outrage surrounding the then-freshman member of the Stanford swim team has continued to grow. According to sources speaking in anonymity to In Touch Weekly, member's of the Stanford women's swim team were not only "suspicious" of Turner long before he sexually assaulted an unconscious woman in January 2015, but had also been pressured to remain silent.
Stanford, however, firmly denies these claims.
"Brock's arrest wasn't surprising to anyone on the team," a source toldIn Touch. "From the beginning, the women swimmers had found him to be very, very odd. Brock would make comments to the women such as 'I can see your tits in that swimsuit." The source also claims that women on the team attempted to come forward by submitting letters to the judge in Turner's trial, only to later learn such attempts had been halted.
"There were rumblings that the women were pressured by Stanford officials to not do it since they hadn't witnessed any crime that Brock had committed," the source said, adding that the team "has been instructed" to abstain from discussing Turner to the media. "However, the entire team completely supports the victim and wishes that Brock had gotten a much harsher sentence," said the source.
In a statement to Complex, Stanford's Associate VP of Communications Lisa Lapin said the In Touch report was "completely false" and that the university never received any concerns from fellow swim team members:
We have spoken to members of the women’s swim team and the allegations published by InTouch are completely false. Students may absolutely speak to anyone they wish, on any topic they wish. And at no time did Stanford University receive a complaint from a member of the women’s swim team about Brock Turner's conduct.
Turner, who was ultimately sentenced to six months in jail, is now expected to get out three months early.
