Penn State Football Coach Accused of Child Sex Abuse
Penn State former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky has been charged with sexually assaulting eight boys over 15 years.
The charges against Sandsuky cover a period from 1994 to 2009. He was charged on 40 criminal counts and released on $100,000 bail on Saturday.
Retired in 1999, Sandusky was well regarded as a coach and was even considered to be the heir apparent to legendary Penn State football coach Joe Peterno.
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Authorities said Sandusky came in contact with the victims through Penn State facilities, in which he led a foundation for at-risk youths, named The Second Mile.
“This is a case about a sexual predator who used his position within the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys,” district Attorney General Linda Kelly said Saturday in a statement.
A graduate assistant alleged that he saw Sandusky sexually assault a boy in the shower at a Penn State practice center in 2002.
The alleged victims testified that they were in their early teens when the sexual abuse occurred.
Also, Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and Penn State Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz were charged with perjury and failure to report under Pennsylvania’s child protective services law, in connection with the sexual abuse investigation.
Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services Law requires certain people associated with schools and other institutions to report suspected abuse immediately to the ChildLine service, which makes referrals to police, and to follow up within two days with written reports to the county children and youth services agency and to the state Department of Public Welfare.
One of the victims mother reported claims of sexual assault to the boy’s high school in 2009, which initiated the state investigation into the sexual abuse allegations. As a result, Sandusky was banned from the boy’s school district.
Although Joe Paterno, who became the coach with the most wins in Division I football history last week, was a witness and testified in front of a grand jury, he was not a suspect.
As one of the most respected programs in college football history, this story will be sure to put a black eye on Penn State.
