Ex-administrators at PSU get jail time in Sandusky scandal
Spanier sentenced to at least 2 months
HARRISBURG — Former Pennsylvania State University president Graham B. Spanier was ordered Friday to spend at least two months in jail and another two on house arrest for endangering children by failing to report signs that Jerry Sandusky was sexually abusing boys.
Retired Berks County Judge John Boccabella also sentenced Mr. Spanier to pay a $7,500 fine and perform 200 hours of community service. Two other former aides, ex-athletic director Tim Curley and onetime vice president Gary Schultz, received similar terms of jail followed by house arrest.
“These men are good people who made a terrible mistake,” the judge said. But he chided the three — and others connected to the scandal, including Joe Paterno — for what he said was an inexcusable failure. “Why no
one made a phone call to police ... is beyond me.” The three are scheduled to begin serving their sentences July 15, authorities said. Friday’ s nearly four-hour hearing capped what had been the controver-sial prosecution of top Penn State administra-tors who investigators said had a chance to stop a serial sex predator but in-stead chose to protect the school and their own rep-utations. At the center was Mr. Spanier, the 69- year-old who once ranked among the nation’ s longest- serving university leaders. Prosecutors with the state attorney general’ s office contended that he decided to bury a claim that San-dusky had been seen show-ering with a boy in a cam-pus locker room in 2001, three years after police had investigated a similar alle-gation about the assistant football coach. From his ouster after Sandusky’ s arrest in late 2011 through his trial this spring, Mr. Spanier had in-sisted he was innocent and didn’t realize that San-dusk y was a threat to chil-dren. But as he pleaded with the judge for a sentence that would spare him from jail, Mr. Spanier apologized to the victims, the Penn State community and others af-fected by his actions .“I deeply regret I didn’t inter-vene more forcefully ,” he said, in a nod to Sandusky’ s victims. In a statement after Fri-day’ s hearing, Pennsylva-nia Attorney General Josh Shapiro said the sentencing “leaves no doubt that there are consequences for failing to protect children in Pennsylvania .” For nearly six years, the case has roiled Penn State and its supporters, stirring conversations and changes across college campuses and their ath-letic programs. The uni-versity has already paid out nearly $250 million in settlements, legal bills, fine sand other costs stem-ming from the scandal. Reaction after the sen-tencing reflected the divi-siveness of the case. Angela Liddle, presi-dent and CEO of Pennsyl-vania Family Support Al-liance, which provides training for schools, daycare centers and others to recognize and report signs of abuse, said the punish-ments won’t erase the damage to victims. But, Ms. Liddle said ,“It is my hope that by spending sometime behind bars, they not only will a tone for their crimes, but will spend each day thinking about what they can do to make the world a safer place for children .” Bill Oldsey, an alumni-elected member of Penn State’ s board of trustees and supporter of the three men, said the punishment s were too harsh .“I don’t un-derstand why any of our three former administra-tors are doing anytime ,” he said. “It’s over kill .” The initial conspiracy and endangerment case against Mr. Spanier and the two other administra-tors had languished for years, managed through multiple Pennsylvania at-torneys general and dis-sected andre shaped by ap-pellate court decisions. A week before the trial was finally set to begin in March, Mr. Curley and Mr. Schultz agreed top lead guilty and testify against their former boss. But after their testi-mony was far less damn-ing than prosecutors had hoped, the jury convicted Mr. Spanier of misde-meanor child endanger-ment— the same charge to which the others pleaded guilty—while acquitting him of a second endanger-ment charge and felony conspiracy. Still, his lawyer has indicated he will appeal the verdict, a move likely to delay any jail time. Prosecutors Laura Ditka and Patrick Schulte were seeking up to aye arin jail for Mr. Spanier, arguing he was the one who ultimately decided not to report assis-tant coach Mike McQueary’s 2001 shower assault claim to child wel-fare authorities .“He was a complete and utter failure as a leader when it mattered the most ,” Ms. Ditka said dur-ing Friday’ s hearing .“He made a choice to protect his reputation, the reputa-tion of his friends and the reputation of the university above the well-being of these children. And that is inexcusable .” Judge Boccabella said he was not convinced that Mr. Spanier was “totally responsible” for the failure to report Sandusky to au-thorities, noting that he had relied on the judgment of the other two men. Still, he told Mr. Spanier ,“the bucks top sony our desk, that’s why you’re here .” Mr. Spanier and his law-yer, Sam Silver, declined to comment as they left the courthouse. At the trial, Mr. McQueary testified that the conduct he saw in the locker-rooms how er was sexual in nature and that here porte ditto Paterno.The head coach then noti-fied Mr. Curley and Mr. Schultz, who discussed the matter with Mr. Spanier. Jurors were shown emails that the prosecu-tors said showed the men hatched a plan to keep the matter quiet. Of the three men, Mr. Spanier ultimately re-ceived the lightest sen-tence. Mr. Schultz ,67, also got a two-month jail term followed by four months of house arrest. Mr. Curley,63, received the harsh est penalty: three months in jail and four months of house arrest. The judge also said oth-ers could have done more to stop or unmask San-dusky—including the fa-mous head coach who died in the weeks after San-dusky’s arrest .“Mr. Paterno, the leg-endary football coach, could have made that phone call without so much as getting his hands dirty ,” the judge said. And of Mr. McQueary, Judge Bocca bella said: “He wasn’t a child. He was an adult .”