The article goes on and on. Wow just wow. Institutional failure and institutional corruption. Seems to be a common theme these days.The Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case has already cost the jobs of football coach Joe Paterno and university President Graham Spanier. State and federal investigators continue to unravel the case and might bring additional charges.
More than one tip has already come into the tipline that police have set up for potential victims.
But in the end, it’s going to come down to credibility. Stories contradict each other. Grand jury testimony clashes.
Who was telling the truth? Who was trying to keep the truth silent?
And what part did that silence play in the fact that Sandusky is alleged to have sexually assaulted young boys for 10 years after the first boy stepped forward?
In early 2010, before The Patriot-News broke the story of the Sandusky investigation, the newspaper confronted Spanier and asked him if he was aware of a grand jury investigation into Sandusky. His answer was no.
By his own testimony before the grand jury, Spanier knew as early as 2002 that Sandusky and a young boy had been witnessed “horsing around” by a staff member in the locker room of the football building.
It’s not clear if Spanier also knew about a six-week investigation by his university’s police force that centered around similar touching in a shower in 1998 that never led to charges.
However, now-resigned Vice President Gary Schultz, who was in charge of the campus police in 1998 and in 2002, did know about both reports, and in his grand jury testimony, he acknowledged that they were similar — they both involved young boys and allegations of sexual misconduct in a shower at the football building.
Right now, the case against Schultz and Athletic Director Tim Curley — both charged with perjury and failure to report a crime — hinges mainly on the word of that eyewitness, then-graduate student Mike McQueary. McQueary is now a Penn State assistant football coach.
McQueary is a guy who once stepped in and broke up a player-related knife fight in a campus dining hall — a fight police admit could have been very ugly. But this week, he is getting blasted by the public for doing too little.
That same public sentiment led to an abrupt exit for legendary coach Paterno and Spanier.
But if gossip, rumor and speculation have been rampant this week about Spanier, Paterno and McQueary, the facts are more complicated — and much more disturbing.
EARLY CONCERNS
The earliest documented report of possible abuse at the hands of Sandusky is in 1995, when his now-legally adopted son was still a teenage foster child in his home.
The adoption file for Matt Sandusky, who had a different name at the time, contains letters of concern from his mother to children and youth officials and to a Centre County judge.
Matt’s biological mother, Debra Long, testified before the grand jury.
Matt, 33, is not one of the victims in the grand jury presentment, but he did testify before the grand jury.
Sandusky’s attorney, Joe Amendola, said Long is upset with Sandusky for helping her son and her allegations are not based in fact. Matt went to live with the Sandusky family after he was caught setting fire to a barn in 1995.
Children and Youth Services placed him with the Sandusky family at Jerry Sandusky’s request. He knew Matt through The Second Mile.
In his book, “Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story” several pages are devoted to Matt.
“He became an instant challenge for me,” Sandusky writes.
Debra Long was allowed to visit her son only one-half day per month after he went to live with the Sanduskys.
About four months after he went to live with Jerry, Matt attempted suicide with a girl who was also staying at Sandusky’s house.
“The probation department has some serious concerns about the juvenile’s safety and his current progress in placement with the Sandusky family,” wrote Terry L. Trude, a school-based probation officer, days after the suicide attempt.
The letter, addressed to Centre County Judge David Grine, also said Long was concerned about Matt’s safety and mental condition, and asked that Matt go to a different foster family.
Trude finally recommended that Matt’s placement in the Sandusky house be reviewed within two months.
The night of the suicide attempt, Matt wrote a letter to the probation officer dealing with his case.
It read, in part: “I would like to be placed back with the Sanduskys. I feel that they have supported me even when I have messed up. They are a loving caring group of people. I love both my biological family and the Sandusky family.”
The day Jerry Sandusky was arrested, Matt brought his kids over to Jerry’s house. The mother of Matt’s children almost immediately went to court to prevent future visits. A judge’s order now prevents Sandusky from having unsupervised contact or overnight visits with his grandchildren.
THE FIRST VICTIM TO ASK FOR HELP
The travesty and tragedy of botched attempts to investigate Jerry Sandusky began in 1998.
Though the grand jury indictment includes four previous victims, an 11-year old boy in 1998 was the first to come forward. He is called Victim Six in the grand jury presentment.
The boy told police that Sandusky had showered naked with him. A second boy was in the showers at the time, but did not testify before the grand jury.
Ray GricarView full sizeAP Photo/Centre Daily Times, Nabil K. Mark, 2005Former Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar
Then-Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar set up a sting in the mother’s home. Sandusky had requested to meet with the mom, and Gricar had officers hide in another room and listen to their conversation.
One of those officers was Detective Ron Schreffler, the lead investigator in the case.
According to the presentment, Sandusky asked the mom for forgiveness.
“I understand. I was wrong. I wish I could get forgiveness from you. I know I won’t get it from you. I wish I were dead,” Sandusky said.
Gricar knew the results of the sting before he made his decision not to prosecute.
The Centre County Office of Children and Youth Services also was investigating that case.
Investigator Jerry Lauro said this week he didn’t feel there was enough evidence for abuse charges solely based on interviews with the boys.
“At that time, the information that we had wasn’t sufficient enough to substantiate a case,” Lauro said. “I don’t want [the mother)] to think we didn’t believe their kid back then. We did, but we didn’t have enough.”
Lauro said Schreffler never told him the details of Sandusky’s confession at the victim’s house.
“I remember my last conversation with him concerning him hiding in that room,” Lauro said. “He didn’t tell me details. All he said was, ‘There’s nothing to it — we’re going to close our case.’ And I said, ‘That’s fine, I’m going to close my case, too.”
They never had another call regarding Sandusky, Lauro said.
Gricar disappeared suddenly in 2005. He remained missing and was declared dead earlier this year. Tony Gricar, family spokesman, said his uncle had developed a “bitter taste” for the football program and Paterno.
“So, I wouldn’t imagine he’d give favorable treatment to anyone associated with the team for any reason,” he said.
Schreffler has repeatedly declined to comment on the case.
According to the presentment, Lauro testified that he and Schreffler interviewed Sandusky. Sandusky admitted hugging the boy in the shower and admitted it was wrong, Lauro testified.
WHAT JANITORS SAY THEY SAW
Another golden opportunity to report and investigate Sandusky for child sexual abuse came just two years later, in 2000.
A group of janitors were cleaning the locker rooms late at night in the Penn State football building.
One of them, Jim Calhoun, witnessed Sandusky in a shower performing a sex act on a young boy who was pinned up against a wall, according to the grand jury report.
A second janitor, Ronald Petrosky, witnessed a boy leaving hand in hand with Sandusky after Petrosky heard the shower running.
The grand jury presentment calls them Victim Two and Victim Eight.
Calhoun approached Petrosky, crying and very upset. He told Petrosky what he’d seen and said it was something he would never forget.
Something is being overlooked here. I'm not that surprised, because it's America. I am appalled at the relative inaction of those close to the incident. They could have protested harder and louder. But what about those higher up who received the reports and tried to cover it up? It's always those lower down the ladder who get scapegoated when the shit hits the fan. And underlings also know what happens to whistle blowers. Make waves and your career is over. The situation is deplorable, and I'm not excusing it. But let's portion out some of this condemnation for the law enforcement officers and university executive officers who helped sweep this under the rug.
And underlings also know what happens to whistle blowers.
The Penn State Creamery has removed the "Sandusky Blitz" ice cream flavor, named after former PSU assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, from its shelves and online menu, the Daily Collegian first reported Tuesday.
Prior to the flavor's removal from the creamery website, The Big Lead got a screen grab of the ingredients. Sandusky Blitz was described as a "banana-flavored ice cream with chocolate-covered peanuts and caramel swirl."
Though creamery staff wouldn't comment specifically to the Daily Collegian, the timing of the flavor's removal coincides with charges of sex crimes against minors filed against Sandusky last weekend.
Sandusky started the Second Mile charity back in 1977, this this could go all the way back to then.
If you have the stomach for it, here is the Grand Jury findings.
Disgusting, just disgusting.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/feature?section=news&id=8421115
Next to Sandusky, I find McQueary the next most disgusting human being.