Prosecutor: Top officials did nothing to stop Sandusky
HARRISBURG — In nearly six years of dissection and discussion, no single incident has illustrated Jerry Sandusky's crimes like the oft-repeated account of how assistant football coach Mike McQueary walked into a campus locker room in 2001 and saw Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy in a shower.
But on Tuesday, the former head of Sandusky's charity for vulnerable children testified that the university's athletic director at the time, Tim Curley, had assured him that the claim had been discredited.
“He told me it had been investigated and nothing inappropriate was found,” Jack Raykovitz, the former president and CEO of the Second Mile, told jurors.
Mr. Raykovitz's testimony
came near the end of the first full day of trial for Graham B. Spanier, the former Penn State president accused of endangering children and conspiring to cover up Sandusky's crimes.
Unlike many other witnesses, Mr. Raykovitz had never before been required to publicly testify about his knowledge of Sandusky's misconduct.
And longtime critics of the prosecution — as well as defenders of Mr. Spanier — have often asserted that the Second Mile, the defunct charity where Sandusky groomed many of his victims, has long escaped scrutiny it deserved in the scandal.
“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for men to do nothing,” said Deputy Attorney General Patrick Schulte. “Evil thrives when men do nothing.”
Mr. Spanier's lawyer, in turn, countered that his client never conspired with anyone but rather was being wrongfully prosecuted for “a judgment call” based on sparse information he got from others.
Much of the day was spent using witnesses to educate jurors on what by now are the familiar facts of the case:
Former university police chief Tom Harmon and detective Ronald Schreffler gave accounts of their 1998 investigation of an allegation that Sandusky had showered with a different young boy.
Mr. Harmon acknowledged on cross-examination that he never discussed the incident with Mr. Spanier, and that no one from the university interfered with the investigation, which ultimately ended without charges.
Mr. McQueary described for jurors what he saw in the locker room shower in 2001 and how awkward it was to report it to head coach Joe Paterno.
“It's coach. He's like a grandpa. He's revered. You just don't talk about that with Coach Paterno,” he testified.
His father, John J. McQueary, told jurors that Mr. Schultz had promised him Penn State officials would look into the report by his son. The elder McQueary also said Mr. Schultz told him “we've heard rumblings” about similar encounters involving Sandusky but that “each time, we came up empty-handed.”
Prosecutors contend that Mr. Spanier, Mr. Schultz and Mr. Curley simply chose not to report Mike McQueary's claim to childwelfare authorities. Both Mr. Schultz, 67, and Mr. Curley, 62, admitted as much when they pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child-endangerment charges last week, leaving Mr. Spanier, 68, as the sole defendant.
Mr. Raykovitz was called to bolster that contention. In his testimony, he said Mr. Curley told him one day in March 2001 that someone — whom he did not identify — reported being “uncomfortable” after seeing Sandusky in the shower with a boy, but that an ensuing investigation uncovered no wrongdoing.
Mr. Raykovitz, a psychologist, said he wasn't told Sandusky and the boy were naked or that Mike McQueary saw skin-to-skin contact and heard “rhythmic slapping sounds,” as prosecutor Laura Ditka described it.
And Mr. Raykovitz testified he was told the boy had been a teenager.
Mr. Curley did not disclose which agency had investigated the incident and Mr. Raykovitz, on cross examination, acknowledged he didn't ask.
He also conceded he didn't ask Mr. Curley if the child involved was a Second Mile participant.
Mr. Curley, he said, told him of the administrators' intended plan to bar Sandusky from bringing children into Penn State's facilities. Mr. Raykovitz said he asked Sandusky about it and the former defensive coordinator told him he was “confused” and thought the ban only applied to the Lasch football building.
“Does that mean not even Rec Hall?” Mr. Raykovitz said Sandusky asked him.
Mr. Raykovitz said he told Sandusky to check with Mr. Curley and clear up the confusion. He testified that he also advised Sandusky to no longer shower in the nude with boys, given mounting concerns about child sexual abuse nationally.
“I told him to wear trunks,” Mr. Raykovitz said.
Mr. Curley and Mr. Schultz are expected to testify as early as Wednesday.
The prosecutor told jurors that Mr. Schultz will testify he is “very regretful” of the decision not to report Mike McQueary's claim to the Department of Public Welfare, which the three men in an email exchange had originally planned to do.
“We messed up,” is what Mr. Schultz is going to say, according to Mr. Schulte.
Their plan changed after Mr. Curley discussed it with Paterno, the prosecutor said, without elaborating.
The men decided they would bar Sandusky from bringing youths on campus, but that never happened, Mr. Schulte said. And, he said, Sandusky continued to sexually assault boys in Penn State’s showers, including a “John Doe” who will testify later in the week.
“The showers at Penn State continued to be Jerry Sandusky's sanctuary for child molestation,” Mr. Schulte said.
Mr. Spanier's lawyer, Sam Silver, said the longtime president had no direct contact with Mike McQueary and relied on information from the others. No one told Mr. Spanier that Sandusky had been seen having sex with a child, Mr. Silver told jurors, and there's no evidence he attempted to stop anyone from reporting Sandusky or that he conspired to cover up crimes.
“This was far from criminal conspiracy,” he said.
Mr. Spanier, who is also expected to take the stand in his own defense, appeared calm during the proceedings, greeting supporters who came to the courtroom, including Penn State trustee Al Lord.