Crime

Former Penn State Defensive Coordinator Arrested for Sexual Abuse, AD and University VP for Perjury

Penn State Coach Arrested for Sexual Abuse

(The Blaze/AP) — A former defensive coach who was integral for decades to Penn State’s football success was accused Saturday of molesting eight boys, and two school administrators were charged with failing to tell police when a witness told them he saw a boy being sexually assaulted in the shower.

Former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, 67, was arrested Saturday and released on $100,000 bail after being arraigned on 40 criminal counts, according to the office of the state attorney general, Linda Kelly. She called Sandusky “a sexual predator who used his position within the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys.”

Though reports surfaced months ago that Sandusky was being investigated, the case took on an added dimension Saturday when Penn State’s athletic director, Tim Curley, 57, and vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz, 62, were charged with perjury. Both were expected to turn themselves in on Monday in Harrisburg.

Longtime head coach Joe Paterno, who has more victories than any coach in the history of Division I football, was not charged, authorities said, and the grand jury report did not appear to implicate him in wrongdoing. It said that when Paterno first learned of one report of abuse, he immediately reported it to Curley, but Sandusky was no longer coaching at the time and it’s not clear whether Paterno followed up with Curley.

For Penn State and the large community of alumni that surrounds it in Pennsylvania and beyond, the allegations represent a devastating blemish. Led for more than four decades by Paterno’s strong and unique public persona, the athletic program has prided itself on being clean and unsusceptible to the scandals that have tarnished other major schools.

Sandusky, closely identified with the school’s reputation as a defensive powerhouse and a program that produced top-quality linebackers, retired in 1999 but continued to work with at-risk children through the nonprofit Second Mile organization he founded in 1977, where authorities say all of the accusers first encountered him.

The allegations against Sandusky range from sexual touching to oral and anal sex, and the young men testified they were in their early teens when some of the abuse occurred, and there is evidence even younger children may have been victimized. Defense attorney Joe Amendola said Sandusky has been aware of the accusations for about three years and has maintained his innocence.

“He’s shaky, as you can expect,” Amendola told WJAC-TV after Sandusky was arraigned. “Being 67 years old, never having faced criminal charges in his life, and having the distinguished career that he’s had, these are very serious allegations.”

A preliminary hearing scheduled for Wednesday would likely be delayed, Amendola added. Sandusky is charged with multiple counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of a child, indecent assault and unlawful contact with a minor, as well as single counts of aggravated indecent assault and attempted indecent assault.

No one answered a knock at the door Saturday at Sandusky’s modest, two-story brick home at the end of a dead-end road in State College. A man who answered the door at The Second Mile office in State College declined to give his name and said the organization had no comment.

The grand jury said eight boys were targets of sexual advances or assaults by Sandusky from 1994 to 2009. None was named, and in at least one case, the jury said the child’s identity remains unknown to authorities.

One accuser, now 27, testified that Sandusky initiated contact with a “soap battle” in the shower that led to multiple instances of involuntary sexual intercourse and indecent assault at Sandusky’s hands, the grand jury report said.

He said he traveled to charity functions and Penn State games with Sandusky, even being listed as a member of the Sandusky family party for the 1998 Outback Bowl and 1999 Alamo Bowl. But when the boy resisted his advances, Sandusky threatened to send him home from the Alamo Bowl, the report said.

Sandusky also gave him clothes, shoes, a snowboard, golf clubs, hockey gear and football jerseys, and even guaranteed that he could walk on to the football team, the jury said, and the boy also appeared with Sandusky in a photo in Sports Illustrated. He testified that Sandusky once gave him $50 to buy marijuana, drove him to purchase it, and then drove him home as the boy smoked the drug.

The first case to come to light was a boy who met Sandusky when he was 11 or 12, the grand jury said. The boy received expensive gifts and trips to sports events from Sandusky, and physical contact began during his overnight stays at Sandusky’s home, jurors said. Eventually, the boy’s mother reported the allegations of sexual assault to his high school, and Sandusky was banned from the child’s school district in Clinton County in 2009. That triggered the state investigation that culminated in charges Saturday.

But the report also alleges much earlier instances of abuse, and details failed efforts to stop it by some who became aware of what was happening.

Another child, known only as a boy about 11 to 13, was seen by a janitor pinned against a wall while Sandusky performed oral sex on him in fall 2000, the jury said.

And in 2002, Kelly said, a graduate assistant saw Sandusky sexually assault a naked boy, estimated to be about 10 years old, in a team locker room. The grad student and his father reported what he saw to Paterno, who immediately told Curley, prosecutors said.

Curley and Schultz met with the graduate assistant about a week and a half later, Kelly said.

“Despite a powerful eyewitness statement about the sexual assault of a child, this incident was not reported to any law enforcement or child protective agency, as required by Pennsylvania law,” Kelly said.

There’s no indication that anyone at school attempted to find the boy, or follow up with the witness, she said.

Curley denied that the assistant had reported anything of a sexual nature, calling it “merely `horsing around,’” the 23-page grand jury report said. But he also testified that he barred Sandusky from bringing children onto campus and that he advised Penn State president Graham Spanier of the matter.

The jury said Curley was lying, Kelly said, adding that it also deemed portions of Schultz’s testimony not to be credible.

Schultz told the jurors he also knew of a 1998 investigation involving sexually inappropriate behavior by Sandusky with a boy in the showers the football team used.

But despite his job overseeing campus police, he never reported the 2002 allegations to any authorities, “never sought or received a police report on the 1998 incident and never attempted to learn the identity of the child in the shower in 2002,” the jurors wrote. “No one from the university did so.”

Lawyers for both Curley and Schultz issued statements saying they are innocent of all charges.

In response to a request for comment from Paterno, a spokesman for the athletic department said all such questions would be referred to university representatives, who released a statement from Spanier calling the allegations against Sandusky “troubling” and adding Curley and Schultz had his unconditional support.

He predicted they will be exonerated.

“I have known and worked daily with Tim and Gary for more than 16 years,” Spanier said. “I have complete confidence in how they handled the allegations about a former university employee.”

Sandusky, once considered a potential successor to Paterno, drew up the defenses for the Nittany Lions’ national-title teams in 1982 and 1986. The team is enjoying another successful run this season; at 8-1, Penn State is ranked No. 16 in the AP Top 25 and is the last undefeated squad in Big Ten play. The Nittany Lions were off Saturday.

As the head football coach, Paterno has spent years cultivating a reputation for putting integrity ahead of modern college-sports economics. It‘s a notion that has benefited Penn State’s marketing and recruiting efforts over the decades and one that the Big Ten school’s alumni proudly tout years after they leave the campus known popularly as “Happy Valley.”

“We’re supposed to be one of the universities to follow after, someone to look up to,” said sophomore Brian Prewitt of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. “Now that people on the top are involved, it’s going to be bad.”

Comments (38)

  • hogtrashhd
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 10:11pm

    when I was growing up there were rumors of an athletic director hitting on boys.. we all knew that he was gay and wanted some.. if anyone had been caught in company with him that kid would be called a queer.. so nobody I ever seen went near the dude.. so, i’m guessing these boys wanted some too.. but now a day it seems okay to cornhole each other. they’re not shamed. and if the other kids were to shame him they’d be put in a frigging gulag or something..

    Report Post »  
    • minorityconservative2
      Posted on November 7, 2011 at 7:36am

      Your comment is sickening! You guess they want some! That is just a beautiful statement. How evil can you get? You can’t blame a child because they were abused. You are just as big of a sicko as the sicko they arrested.

      Report Post »  
  • alecj
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 3:41pm

    Im a Penn State Alumni and live in Happy Valley. Let me just say that PSU President Graham Spanier is a dirtbag who has had relationships with University students that i personally knew. He is as responsible for the atmosphere here at Penn State degenerating into a classless shell of its former self, as anyone. I believe Spanier would NOT go to the cops if he had information about Sandusky. He probably is afraid that if people started snooping around, they would find his dirty laundry too.

    Dont get me wrong, Im not accusing Spanier of doing anything illegal like Sandusky, just disgusting and immoral. Its not the same place it was before Spanier took over. Like a typical liberal politician, he has rotted the University from the inside while slowly strangling the golden goose that made PSU a top rate college. Spanier has focused on his own personal gain and ignored whats best for Penn State for 16 years. I predict that this is just the beginning of a much bigger controversy that eventually brings big changes to Penn State. Unfortunately, Spanier is just the kind of weasel that would allow everyone around him to take the falls and somehow still keep his job.

    He has been our Bill Clinton. We wont know the damage he has caused, completely, until he is gone….which, after this debacle, should be immediately.

    Paterno will always get the benefit of the doubt from me, though. He is a good man.

    Report Post » alecj  
  • Robert999
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 2:57pm

    Not surprising that something like this might happen. There is so much corruption in college athletics (and professional athletics too) that this type of thing is just one more step for someone with tendencies toward pedophilia.

    Report Post »  
  • your sensei
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 12:58pm

    Hmm . . . college football staff . . . sexual abuse . . . my money’s on conservative, and I’l cover any spread on that..

    Report Post » your sensei  
    • minorityconservative2
      Posted on November 7, 2011 at 7:47am

      Well they are not very conservative if they were involved in this now are they? But liberals would put these sickos into counseling instead of jail. And tell society we need to give them another chance or even that it is normal behavior and we should just let the free love flow, NAMBLA and all. Don’t ever compare someone who says they are conservative and does the opposite of what a conservative would do with a real conservative. If these people claim to be conservatives they are lying. Just like a terrorist who blows up people for allah is not a peace loving muslim.

      Report Post »  
  • smackdown33
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 12:53pm

    Clean house, including Paterno. He’s no innocent here. These people believe that they are above reproach… better than the common man. It’s a disgrace for Pinned State University.

    Report Post »  
  • inpennanow
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 11:14am

    However, I do have a huge problem with the university allowing Sandusky to retire rather than be terminated for cause. And for the university permitting Sandusky on their premises accompanying youths post retirement. I also have a huge problem with the Second Mile’s board allowing a suspected predator to continue his affiliation with them. I have a lot of questions why heads of institutions don’t take more actions limiting their liabilities: terminations, policies of not permitting non-family adults around children alone, etc. We don’t need more laws but institutions really should be more proactive on not creating an atmosphere where these things can happen.

    Report Post »  
  • AntipasMetochos
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 10:51am

    Hopefully, one day soon we’ll read this headline: “From Penn State to the state pen”

    Report Post » AntipasMetochos  
  • inpennanow
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 10:44am

    I asked myself similar questions. However, I’ve done some research: the laws in Pennsylvania regarding mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse can be found in 23 Pa. C.S. 6111-6119 (http://law.onecle.com/pennsylvania/domestic-relations/00.063.011.000.html). Section 6111 has to do with the responsibility of mandated reporters to report suspected child abuse. Subsection c is quite important, as it has to do with the responsibilities of staff members of institutions: they’re legally *limited* to reporting suspicions to those in charge of the institution. Both Paterno and his graduate assistant, a witness, followed PA law and university policy exactly by reporting their suspicions/witness accounts to Curley and Schulz. It is Curley‘s and Schulz’ failure to properly report and discipline appropriately (terminate for cause), which is why those two are charged and Paterno was completely cleared of any wrongdoing.

    Report Post »  
  • nostromo
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 10:25am

    The local paper has a quote from the prosecuter who praises Paterno for his handling of the matter. Now, I am a grad and a NLC member and I dont think Joe handled this very well. Sandusky was terminated and allowed to retire. He was given emeritus status and had the run of campus and was allowed to attend official and unoffical functions. All this was done in 1999 after the first rumors began to surface following a 1998 incident that was investigated by real police (not campus) and found to have insuffient evidence. Frankly, when you work with kids you have to be above reproach and held to a higher standard. The university should have tossed him on his ear in 1998. Finally, no one is more upset about this than PSU alums. We need a housecleaning at PSU. For too long nepotism and a network of insiders have controlled that institution.

    Report Post »  
  • proudpatriot77
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 9:47am

    Holy crap! I know that there is alot of sarcasm and satire on here, but this story has absolutely nothing to do with Sandusky or victims being gay. He wasnt having sex with men. These kids were pre-puberty! It is horrible that this was allowed to go on because a football program was put ahead of justice being done. I am a Penn State and Joe Pa fan, but this story makes me think twice. Many heads need to roll. I wouldnt be suprised if Sandusky doesnt kill himself if given the opportunity.

    Report Post »  
  • kfouche
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 9:28am

    The law should be a federal law with federal real sentencing, you get 10 years you do pretty much 10 years. We need to realize pedophiles cannot be rehabilitated PEROID. The sentencing should be if you molest a child less than 13 its 30 years automatically, and if you cause any physical harm, and I mean any physical harm then its automatic life. If you produce child porn automatic 30 years for first time and life for the second time. If you are found with child porn then it should be 10 years first time then 30 years after that. We also need to discontinue protective custody for child predators, they are housed away from other inmates in a group where they share their experiences in a group and plan their future conquests, they should be general pop until some event occurs in which there has been some evidence if threat. This Sandusky has confused and destroyed how many boys, you can‘t tell me there wasn’t some suspicion among his colleagues? I watched him give an interview last night on youtube and I would have found him a little smarmy.

    Report Post »  
  • Lee_in_PA
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 6:39am

    happy valley isn’t so happy any more.

    Report Post » Lee_in_PA  
  • HowardSternIsABigot
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 6:24am

    Nobody turned him in because they werent victims, they were participants. The young men dont stand and let someone suck their weenus if they are straight. Its the same with catholic church, pedophiles go after those susceptible to the advances. Nobody ever turned him in? come on folks, high profile coach comes on to big straight linebackers? somewhere hed have gotten his teeth knocked out, unless the homophobia America is accused of doesnt exist. homos tend to like young boys, or younger men, or young looking men. keep on denying it america, let them adopt and marry each other, God will have final say.

    Report Post »  
    • kfouche
      Posted on November 6, 2011 at 9:35am

      he liked young boys who he could manipulate physically and emotionally, don’t tell me there is no harm here and the CHILDREN like it- makes me wonder why a person would see it that way…..I am just saying. Sounds like to me some kind of rationalization, well no harm here and the boys liked it nothing to see here, really??????????

      Report Post »  
  • Anne G
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 5:54am

    Why would Paterno not question the lack of police involvement after he reported an incident? Sorry, but it seems to me he only cared enough to cover his own butt. I could be wrong, but right now, thats what it looks like.

    Report Post » Anne G  
  • frankieshere
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 1:31am

    What the HELL is wrong with people???!!!!
    Call 911! It’s simple! Do not count on any school “official” to do the job of a police officer. Immediately report sexual molestation of any child to the POLICE!

    Report Post »  
  • krisiniL
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 12:50am

    This story is sickening for so many reasons– eyewitnesses who cared more about protecting their job and the school’s reputation than reporting a crime to police and starstruck parents who essentially prostituted their children in exchange for gifts and attention from an alleged pedophile. True courage is not found on a football field; it comes from doing the right thing even when it hurts. Too bad none of these people understood this.

    Report Post »  
  • netmail
    Posted on November 6, 2011 at 12:02am

    If guilty, he should be Penn State’s new tackle dummy until he is dead.

    Report Post »  
  • UrbanCombatSurvivor
    Posted on November 5, 2011 at 11:15pm

    Another upstanding gay man who should absolutely be allowed to care for your children. You’re all homophobes for even reading this article!

    Report Post »  
  • blazingaway
    Posted on November 5, 2011 at 11:11pm

    Perverts … homosexuals are perverts plain and simply.
    Americans are idiots to think otherwise.

    Report Post » blazingaway  
  • paulusmaximus
    Posted on November 5, 2011 at 9:39pm

    “In those day their hearts were set to do evil constantly” Humanest progressive thought is not new and it leads to destruction still.

    Report Post » paulusmaximus  
  • YoungBloodNews
    Posted on November 5, 2011 at 8:14pm

    Sounds like he would’ve fit in at the Occupy rallys. Of course they would need an all-male tent to protect against this predator.

    Report Post » YoungBloodNews  
    • jzs
      Posted on November 5, 2011 at 9:07pm

      Some say that all Muslims are terrorists, and that all liberals are communists. Some also say that all football coaches are pedophiles, otherwise why do they want to “coach” young boys. I personally think football coaches should be removed from their positions on the basis of the of predilection to pedophilia of those who chose that profession.

      I personally believe that football coaches, of whom most if not all are pedophiles should be discharged from their duties. These are these are our kids! I also don’t want no Muslims teachers who are all terrorists living in the US, or Hispanics teaching my kid some crap about Mexico because they all hate America and I don’t want no @#^%*($# living in my neighborhood, because they are all alike.

      Report Post » jzs  
    • decendentof56
      Posted on November 5, 2011 at 9:36pm

      Tounge in cheek day, JZS?
      And some say many Muslims are ok, some libs are ok, and most all football coaches are not pedophiles.

      Report Post »  
    • SurhanSurhan
      Posted on November 5, 2011 at 9:38pm

      @ JZS- You’re a credit to your race. I’m glad the Christians and the whites have got you. Your post is so articulate. No mistakes whatsoever.

      Report Post »  
    • grabyrgun
      Posted on November 5, 2011 at 9:46pm

      @surhansurhan: and you are a credit to yours. hope you go out in a premature ejacusplosion…

      Report Post »  
    • sissykatz
      Posted on November 5, 2011 at 9:50pm

      Jzs
      I know all that was sarcasm. But it is the only post I have ever seen
      of yours that made even a little bit of sense. Not about the football
      but all the others. Maybe you are coming around.

      Report Post »  
    • Californiasodbuster
      Posted on November 5, 2011 at 11:52pm

      Wow, man, JZS, you sure mixed alot of nothing into your compilation, if gay is your way, that’s fine, we do not want to know about gay’s and their perveted ways.
      I do not shove down your throats my way of heterosexualism , can you people just let it rest?
      You are not going to convince anybody that a man making love to another man is right or normal, just go away to a gay website, your story doe’s not hold water.

      Report Post »  
    • gwssacredcause
      Posted on November 6, 2011 at 8:41am

      @SHURHANSURHAN I do not think of JZS or you as being of a certain race, why do you?

      Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on November 5, 2011 at 7:48pm

    Progressivism and Perverted Leadership — one and the same in my book, hope the three enjoy their stay in the cross bar hotel as they meet Bruno and his boys.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • MidWestMom
      Posted on November 5, 2011 at 9:23pm

      This is a high-profile guy. 40 criminal charges. The state wouldn‘t do that if they didn’t have a plethora of credible evidence. And the court released him on $100,000 bail ??

      Report Post »  
    • decendentof56
      Posted on November 5, 2011 at 9:38pm

      It sounds serious for Sandusky. I have to say that I was shocked when I heard it.

      Report Post »  
    • sissykatz
      Posted on November 5, 2011 at 9:54pm

      $100,000.00 For 40 counts?????? Odd, don’t you think???? A little low I would think.

      Report Post »  
    • MidWestMom
      Posted on November 5, 2011 at 10:15pm

      sissykatz – Exactly…

      Report Post »  
    • bookofdaniel
      Posted on November 6, 2011 at 1:21am

      Sissykat, The amount of bail is not based solely on the crime but also prior convictions and flight risk.

      Report Post »  

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