Penn St ex-coach, others charged in child sex case

[Stewie]

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — A former defensive coordinator who was integral for decades to Penn State's success in football was accused Saturday of sexually abusing eight boys, and the school's athletic director and an administrator were charged with perjury and failing to report what they knew about the allegations in a case that prosecutor said uncovered a years-long trail of a predator and those who protected him.


Former coach Jerry Sandusky, 67, of State College, was arrested Saturday and released on $100,000 bail after being arraigned on 40 criminal counts, the state attorney general's office said. Athletic director Tim Curley, 57, and Penn State vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz, 62, both of Boalsburg, were expected to turn themselves in Monday in Harrisburg. Schultz's position includes oversight of the university's police department.


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.


When Paterno first learned of one report of abuse he immediately reported it to Curley, prosecutors said. Sandusky was no longer coaching at the time and it's not clear whether Paterno followed up with Curley.


Closely identified with the school's reputation as a defensive powerhouse and a program that produced top-quality linebackers, Sandusky retired in 1999 but continued to work with at-risk children through the nonprofit Second Mile organization he founded in 1977. He was 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. A preliminary hearing for Sandusky is scheduled for Wednesday, but his lawyer told reporters it would likely be delayed.


"He's shaky, as you can expect," defense attorney Joe Amendola told WJAC-TV outside the arraignment hearing. "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."


Amendola said Sandusky has been aware of the allegations for about three years and has maintained his innocence.


The allegations range from sexual touching to oral and anal sex, and victims testified they were in their early teens when some of the abuse occurred.


Attorney General Linda Kelly called Sandusky "a sexual predator who used his position within the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys."


The grand jury said eight boys who were targets of sexual advances or assaults by Sandusky from 1994 to 2009. None were 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.


Victim 4, as he was identified in the jury report, said he traveled to charity functions and Penn State games with Sandusky, even being listed as a member of Sandusky's family's party for the 1998 Outback Bowl and 1999 Alamo Bowl.


"Sandusky did threaten to send him home from the Alamo Bowl in Texas when Victim 4 resisted his advances," the report said, and Sandusky gave him clothes, shoes, a snowboard, golf clubs, hockey gear and football jerseys.


"Sandusky even guaranteed Victim 4 that he could be a walk-on player at Penn State," and the boy appeared with Sandusky in a photo in Sports Illustrated, the jury said. 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, according to the report.


"This was when Victim 4 was trying to distance himself from Sandusky because he wanted no more sexual contact with him," the jurors said.
Another child, Victim 8, as jurors named him, is known only as a boy, about 11 to 13, who was seen pinned against a wall, by a janitor who observed Sandusky performing oral sex on him in fall 2000, the jury said.
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.


As stunning as the charges were the names implicated at a school where the football program is known for its consistency as much as its success — a big change this year was the removal of white trim from players' uniforms.


The report accuses Curley and Schultz of knowing some details of accusations of sex abuse against Sandusky but failing to tell authorities what they knew.


"It is also a case about high-ranking university officials who allegedly failed to report the sexual assault of a young boy after the information was brought to their attention, and later made false statements to a grand jury," Kelly said.


Lawyers for both men issued statements saying they were innocent of all charges.


Prosecutors said all of the young men first encountered Sandusky through Second Mile.


The first 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.


The report alleges much earlier instances of abuse, and efforts by some who knew of it to stop it, to no avail.


Kelly said that in 2002, a graduate assistant saw Sandusky sexually assault a naked boy, estimated to be about 10 years old, in the locker room of the Lasch Football Building on campus. 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. Nothing happened.


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


Curley testified that he barred Sandusky from bringing children onto campus and that he advised Penn State president Graham Spanier of the matter.


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 show in 2002," the jurors wrote.


"No one from the university did so."


Spanier released a statement 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," he 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.

[Chiefnj2]

It's amazing that the NCAA has rules and built in sanctions if a collegiate player receives a free bag of potato chips, but something like this they are powerless to impose penalties.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

Zilla, you are a coward of epic proportions. You think it took a lot of courage to walk away from a child being molested to tell your dad, but not attempt to stop the act?

His career will likely suffer a lot more now than if he had reported it and stopped it.

I'm sure he would have had trouble at job interviews "I'm the guy that was fired because I reported the coordinator was molesting children in the team shower. I'm sure you don't want someone like me on your team and that you'd prefer Joe Po and the rest of the staff that turned a blind eye to such a thing."

QFMFT.

Rep.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

I'm not sure which is more ridiculous.

You trying to defend McQueary, or thinking the guy would be blackballed from college football or any other job because he turned in a child molester.

No shit. He may be done NOW that this is out. In the end it will be worse for him now. (No pun intended)

[stonedstooge]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
Scary shit. Being afraid to turn on authority is human nature. I'd like to believe I'd act differently, but it's easy to say that from the sidelines. Let me ask you this. If you studied to be a lawyer. You spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on tuition, education, etc... Spent endless nights cramming for the bar. You land a great job. You work your ass off and finally earn some respect. You catch one of the partners doing something wildly inappropriate. This partner's a powerful guy. If you say a word about it, you not only lose your job, he can find a way to get you dis-barred, and he'll make sure to let everyone he knows to make sure you never get a decent job ever again. You've got a family and kids. You've got 30 years ahead of you. Now we're no longer talking about losing $100,000 a year, we're talking about losing $3 Million (over 30 years).

I'm a pretty ethical guy. But I believe if I saw a guy murdering someone on the street, my first reaction would be absolute fear. For my own life. I hate that that's the case, but I'm trying to be realistic. I think grilling a young, impressionable kid for not turning in probably the 2nd most powerful guy not just on the team, but even on campus... that's not as easy as we make it out to be from the sidelines.

First thing is you have to be able to live with yourself. You think you could with something like this hanging over your head?

[KCUnited]

I don't care if the kid in the shower was Andy Reid developed, something more needed to be done.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I'm a pretty ethical guy. But I believe if I saw a guy murdering someone on the street, my first reaction would be absolute fear. For my own life. I hate that that's the case, but I'm trying to be realistic. I think grilling a young, impressionable kid for not turning in probably the 2nd most powerful guy not just on the team, but even on campus... that's not as easy as we make it out to be from the sidelines.

Seeing someone being murdered isn't in the same universe as this.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

I'm not sure which is more ridiculous.

You trying to defend McQueary, or thinking the guy would be blackballed from college football or any other job because he turned in a child molester.

Hi, I'm an NCAA head coach looking to hire an Assistant. My school commits all kinds of borderline shady recruiting violations and I'm looking for a defensive coach. So let me "do the right thing" and please do me a huge, huge favor, and don't turn in anything you see on the recruiting front to the NCAA. I can trust you, right? Pretty please?

But I'm going to hire you, because you did the right thing.

[FringeNC]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

It's amazing that the NCAA has rules and built in sanctions if a collegiate player receives a free bag of potato chips, but something like this they are powerless to impose penalties.

Why surprised? NCAA sanctions are a cartel enforcement device, and have nothing to do with what is right or wrong.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by stonedstooge

First thing is you have to be able to live with yourself. You think you could with something like this hanging over your head?

I can't imagine it doesn't beat the living shit out of him every day thinking about it.

[mcaj22]

this will be interesting because if people start cutting deals to provide more information/sell people out that were involved, I have a feeling its going to go right to the top and I read that's the prosecutions plan, they have an idea of how much the higher ups knew to cover this up and now its all about actually getting something that sticks.

and that is having one of these other bozos crack, and admit all the big wigs at Penn State knew about this for 10+ years.

which is very likely.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Hi, I'm an NCAA head coach looking to hire an Assistant. My school commits all kinds of borderline shady recruiting violations and I'm looking for a defensive coach. So let me "do the right thing" and please do me a huge, huge favor, and don't turn in anything you see on the recruiting front to the NCAA. I can trust you, right? Pretty please?

But I'm going to hire you, because you did the right thing.

Holy shit, just when I think your posts in this thread couldn't possibly get any more ignorant, you post this.

*speechless*

[BryanBusby]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Hi, I'm an NCAA head coach looking to hire an Assistant. My school commits all kinds of borderline shady recruiting violations and I'm looking for a defensive coach. So let me "do the right thing" and please do me a huge, huge favor, and don't turn in anything you see on the recruiting front to the NCAA. I can trust you, right? Pretty please?

But I'm going to hire you, because you did the right thing.

Hi, I'm an NCAA head coach looking to hire a recruiting coordinator. I would prefer one will make parents feel like they are making a good safe decision by sending their kid to our institution. Nothing assures parents more than sending someone that kept quiet about child rape.

[eazyb81]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

Zilla, you are a coward of epic proportions. You think it took a lot of courage to walk away from a child being molested to tell your dad, but not attempt to stop the act?

His career will likely suffer a lot more now than if he had reported it and stopped it.

I'm sure he would have had trouble at job interviews "I'm the guy that was fired because I reported the coordinator was molesting children in the team shower. I'm sure you don't want someone like me on your team and that you'd prefer Joe Po and the rest of the staff that turned a blind eye to such a thing."

No shit. It is laughable that anyone can argue 1) McQeary was brave for walking away and letting a 10 year continue to get raped, and 2) His career would have been over in football if he blew the whistle on a serial child molester.

The pussification of this country continues.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

Zilla, you are a coward of epic proportions. You think it took a lot of courage to walk away from a child being molested to tell your dad, but not attempt to stop the act?

His career will likely suffer a lot more now than if he had reported it and stopped it.

I'm sure he would have had trouble at job interviews "I'm the guy that was fired because I reported the coordinator was molesting children in the team shower. I'm sure you don't want someone like me on your team and that you'd prefer Joe Po and the rest of the staff that turned a blind eye to such a thing."

It's nice that some of you live in a perfect world where powerful people are always brought to justice. And not a world where powerful people protect their own against scandal to ridiculous degrees, own the local police, control the local media, etc. Suppose the kid won't admit the truth? He's under the guy's spell enough that he's willing to suck his dick in the shower - do you really think Sandusky couldn't get him to lie? Or threaten his parents? Or have some goons do it? No other witness, victim says your full of shit, no proof, cops don't want to pursue it, press won't touch it, and BOOM you're out of a job, nobody believes you, and maybe you wake up with a horse head at the foot of your bed one morning.

I like to think I'd do the right thing as well, but I've never been in that position and hope to Christ I never am. And I think child molestation is worse than murder.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

Zilla, you are a coward of epic proportions. You think it took a lot of courage to walk away from a child being molested to tell your dad, but not attempt to stop the act?

His career will likely suffer a lot more now than if he had reported it and stopped it.

I'm sure he would have had trouble at job interviews "I'm the guy that was fired because I reported the coordinator was molesting children in the team shower. I'm sure you don't want someone like me on your team and that you'd prefer Joe Po and the rest of the staff that turned a blind eye to such a thing."

The scariest shit about human psychology is that we all know what's right, but throw yourself in that kind of a situation, and we all panic and act in ways we shouldn't. It's been psychologically tested over and over again that many of us would have acted the same way.

Unfortunately, it's easy to talk a big game on the sidelines. Of course he didn't do the right thing. But when you see shit like that, your mind isn't right. We panic. And a million thoughts swirl through your brain. I'd like to believe I'd do the right thing in that situation. I'm just pointing to the reality that it's not as simple as that.