Testimony at Sandusky trial shows missed chances
The eyewitness testimony that confronted jurors in Jerry Sandusky’s child- molestation trial this week was disturbing not only for its graphic descriptions of sex with boys, but for what it said about the people who surrounded and maybe even protected the once- revered Penn State assistant coach.
Eight accusers took the witness stand and described how Sandusky molested them in campus showers, hotel bathrooms, a basement bedroom, a sauna used by the football team — right under the noses of his friends, colleagues, family members and acquaintances.
The Sandusky story, the way authorities have framed it, is one littered with missed chances to stop a rapist who preyed on children for years.
Prosecutors have hinted that top university officials knew far more about Sandusky’s alleged proclivities than they have let on, submitting a document Monday that says Penn State’s former vice president — himself facing charges related to to go with Sandusky and told his mother, “I’m pretty sure he’s gay,” but she dismissed the idea. “She said, oh, whatever, this is just one of your lies,” he told jurors. He also said at one point he told his grandmother to tell Sandusky he wasn’t home when he called.
Victim 1 testified that when he asked his mother about “a website for people who do things to children,” and she asked why, he said it was “to see if Jerry was on there.” He said he didn’t think she totally understood. And Victim 9 told jurors he described Sandusky to his mother as “a touchy- feely type of a person,” but she pressured him to spend time with the former coach.
Keith Masser, a Penn State trustee, said in an interview that he initially thought the scandal was about a failure of administrative oversight of the football program. Now he suspects it goes deeper.
When the board of trustees ousted Spanier on Nov. 9, four days after Sandusky’s arrest, it was “because we didn’t have confidence in his ability to lead us through this crisis,” Masser said. “We had no idea ( at the time) he would be involved in a cover- up.”
Masser stressed he was speaking for himself and not the board at large, and said he wants to be careful not to draw premature conclusions. But he said it now appears like “top administration officials and top athletic officials were involved in making the decision to not inform the proper authorities.”
With prosecutors focused on the sex- abuse allegations against Sandusky, the trial isn’t intended to yield evidence of a possible cover- up. That’s the job of Louis Freeh, the former FBI director hired by the board of trustees to investigate the scandal. His report could be released in late summer.
Spanier, who has not been charged with any crime, did not respond to email and phone messages. His attorney did not return a phone call.
The law firm defending Curley and Schultz against charges they lied in their grand jury testimony and failed to report suspect abuse said in a statement this week they “conscientiously considered” McQueary’s account and “deliberated about how to responsibly deal with the conduct and handle the situation properly.” They did not respond to follow- up questions posed by the AP.
Masser said the Freeh investigation is helping Penn State get to the bottom of the scandal.
“I hope the truth comes out, and from a board standpoint it was Judge Freeh’s investigation that found these emails that relate Spanier, Curley and Schultz to the suspected cover- up,” he said. “I want the alumni to understand and the stakeholders to understand that this independent investigation is uncovering this information.”
Sandusky was charged in November and December with more than 50 counts of abuse. The scandal brought disgrace to Penn State and led to the ousters of both Spanier and Paterno, the Hall of Fame coach who died in January at age 85.