The MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine’s former Dean William Strampel (right) on trial on June 4, 2019, at the Ingham Count Circuit Court.
—William Strampel, former dean of Michigan State’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, was released from Ingham County Jail Thursday, according to the Lansing State Journal.
Strampel was sentenced to one year in jail by Judge Joyce Draganchuk in August, 2019. During his sentencing, he received one year each for two counts of willful neglect in his role as former MSU doctor Larry Nassar’s boss and 11 months for misconduct in office.
Strampel was scheduled to be released for good behavior on April 3 after serving eight months of his one-year sentence. The release comes two weeks earlier than this original date.
Amidst, COVID-19 pandemic, Ingham County Jail released dozens of low-level offenders and those set to be released soon to reduce the risk of the disease spreading in the jails, according to Ingham County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Jason Ferguson.
"Many agencies are trying to reduce jail populations as they are at risk because of how confined they are in a jail facility. So, a lot of our releases were done in compliance with regular end-of sentence structures and then others were identified by the judges that sentence people here," Ferguson said. " ... We didn't really control necessarily who got out, we just follow judges' orders."
Ferguson did not confirm whether this was the reason Strampel was released early, in a statement to The State News.
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