He was a friend, confidant and a beloved doctor. Now, he is accused of sexually abusing athletes for years. Since Dr. Zvi Levran’s arrest, 11 more people have described similar incidents of alleged abuse that have led to charges.
a $490 million lawsuit with more than a thousand former U-M athletes and students who said they were sexually assaulted by Robert Anderson, a former University of Michigan athletic department physician.
In 2002, Levran’s son made the Farmington Unified hockey team, and Levran volunteered as that team’s physician. But according to players on that team and others at various schools Levran worked with in later years, he did far more than suture a cut or assist with injuries. He provided players an ear if they were upset about playing time or the trajectory of their hockey career. Multiple players said they talked to him about girlfriends and, in some cases, sexual exploits.
As the years passed, Levran became an increasingly influential figure within the Detroit-area hockey scene. His feedback was solicited for all-star team selections in the Michigan Development Hockey League, according to emails between the coaching staff and Levran. He was invited to banquets, included on team excursions and welcomed onto the ice at championship celebrations. When Livonia Stevenson won the state championship in 2013, Levran was offered a championship ring.
When asked why he thought his coach had sent him to Levran, Massa, now 29, responded: “Because that was the person he knew could get me in. … We didn’t have anyone else who could help on short notice. Doc was readily accessible.”Twin brothers went to see Levran for physical exams needed before they could play middle school sports. They were 13 and their family knew Levran because an older brother had played youth hockey with Levran’s son.
The two brothers eventually talked and discovered they had similar experiences with Levran. For years afterward, both feared going to a doctor for a physical. When their older brother sent them a news article about Levran’s arrest, they called the tip line set up by police. They subsequently recounted their experiences to federal authorities, who are assisting with out-of-state interviews.A 19-year-old hockey player went to Levran’s home to be treated for a lower-body injury.
“The victim said he was in shock, and just wanted to leave. He said he never consented to anything that happened, nor did he ask for any of it. He thought he was only there to have his examined and leave,” according to police records. During that visit to Levran’s home office, Wirick said Levran instructed him to get naked. Wirick said Levran followed him into the bathroom and said he needed to watch him urinate to inspect his stream. He asked Wirick how “big” he got when his penis was erect. Without warning, Levran digitally penetrated Wirick’s rectum, seemingly to perform a prostate exam, but Wirick said Levran also asked him if he wanted to know the location of the male g-spot.
“I had no reason to doubt the guy,” Wirick said, adding: “I’d been around sports teams and naked dudes my whole life, so whatever.” Wirick went back once more, in December 2021, believing Levran would respect the boundaries he thought he had set at the previous visit. But following the corpse pose portion of the yoga session, Levran began massaging Levran’s groin again and put his mouth on Wirick’s penis. Wirick sat up and asked him what he was doing. “He said he just wanted me to relax and that he wanted to pleasure me,” Wirick said.
Wirick, now 33, is not among the victims who have spoken to law enforcement. He said that given the number of cases filed against Levran, he assumed police didn’t need more victim statements. But in early 2012, the state’s Board of Medicine Disciplinary Subcommittee dismissed the complaint against Levran. According to the document detailing the board’s decision, board physician Dr. Richard E. Burney found that Levran did not violate public health code. In a summary of the decision, the board notes that Burney found the penile anomaly to have been corrected and stated that the parents “were pleased with the surgery.”, said he was baffled by the board’s decision.
What was done with that information is unclear. A Lake Regional Medical Group spokesperson said that local authorities were consulted and that “the appropriate action was taken.” The Fergus Falls school district acknowledged receiving two complaints regarding Levran — one on Nov. 30, 2017, and one on Dec. 6, 2017.
Levran left Minnesota in June 2017 and returned to Michigan, picking up essentially where he left off years earlier: working with teams and treating athletes. No one from Fergus Falls appears to have alerted schools in Michigan or the medical board there or in Minnesota about the allegations against Levran. Ten of the 12 incidents for which Levran has now been charged with a crime occurred after he returned to Michigan in 2017.
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