Penn State’s former president sentenced in Sandusky scandal

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Former Pennsylvania State University President Graham B. Spanier was ordered Friday to spend at least two months in jail and two more under house arrest for endangering children by not reporting signs that Jerry Sandusky was sexually abusing boys.

Judge John Boccabella also sentenced Spanier to pay a $7,500 fine and perform 200 hours of community service. Former Athletic Director Gary Schultz and former university Vice President Tim Curley were sentenced to similar jail terms, to be followed by house arrest.

“These men are good people who made a terrible mistake,” Boccabella said. But he chided the three — and others connected to the scandal, including the late coach Joe Paterno — for what he said was an inexcusable failure. “Why no one made a phone call to police — is beyond me,” he said.

Spanier, Curley and Schultz are to begin serving their sentences July 15, authorities said.

Friday’s long hearing capped what had been the controversial prosecution of top Penn State administrators who investigators said had a chance to stop a serial sex predator but instead chose to protect the school and their own reputations.

At the center was Spanier, who once ranked among the nation’s most prominent and longest-serving university leaders.

Prosecutors with the state Attorney General’s Office contended that he decided to bury a claim that Sandusky had been seen showering with a boy one night in a campus locker room in 2001, three years after police investigated a similar allegation against the assistant football coach.

From his ouster after Sandusky’s arrest in late 2011 through his trial this spring, Spanier insisted he was innocent and did not realize that Sandusky was a threat to children.