No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expedience. — Theodore Roosevelt
Mourning angel
Update: The CEO of The Second Mile for 28 year, Jack Raykovitz has resigned. I mentioned him in part three of my series. He was the man Curley gave ‘the information’ to about Sandusky in 2002.
All right. I’m coming into the homestretch in my series on the history of the cover-up by PSU in the Jerry Sandusky rape case. This is Part IV – and the last part – in the series. You can read Part I here, Part II here, and Part III here. To reiterate, my purpose in writing this series is to focus on the systematic cover-up of the assaults by PSU. I can’t help think but if one of these men had stepped forward at the time, how many children’s lives would not have been wrecked.
Warning: I will be quoting from the Grand Jury report. Normally, I would not do this as it’s graphic and disturbing, but I can’t write about the history without referring to the report. Besides, I think that we need to name what is going on before we can really discuss how we can change the system that strove to cover it up.
In the third part of my series, I focused on the testimony of the PSU administration in concerns to the case of Victim 2. I outlined how man after man did his best to not see what was happening and how any one of these men could have – and should have – gone to the police about Sandusky.
Now, I will sum up the Grand Jury findings which come after the testimony about Victim 2 and I will talk about the last (known) victim, Victim 1 – the reason for the current investigation. He and his mother are heroic because if they hadn’t come forward when they did, who knows how many more boys Sandusky would have assaulted?
I ended Part III with this:
More incredibly, Spanier testified that even in April of 2011, he did not know the identity of the employee. Think about that. He didn’t even bother to find out WHO the perpetrator was – he was that incurious about the whole thing. He also testified that he was never told the conduct was sexual in nature. What. the. fuck. Grown man. Young boy. Naked. In the shower. By definition, that is sexual in nature. I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with these men.
Spanier concluded by saying that, no, Curley and Schultz didn’t indicate they were taking the allegations to the cops, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, or any child protection agency. He also testified that he was not aware of the 1998 investigation.
All these men failed in their moral duty to protect vulnerable boys from a sexual predator. All of them had enough information to go to the police, and yet, not one of them did. I find this reprehensible.
The findings of the Grand Jury
The Grand Jury report findings
The findings of the Grand Jury come after the testimony concerning the second victim, so I will discuss said findings before I discuss Victim 1.
The Grand Jury subpoenaed the Department of Public Welfare and Youth Service’s records and found no report of the 2002 incident, which is in contradiction with Pennsylvania law.
The Grand Jury reiterated that Sandusky was allowed virtually-unlimited access of the PSU facilities, even after the 1998 investigation. He had professor emeritus status, and while he was ordered not to bring children to the PSU facilities after the 1998 investigation, there was no way for this edict to be enforced.
They also found portions of Curley’s testimony and Schultz’s testimony to be not credible.
The Grand Jury found that the sexual assault should have been reported. It cited Pennsylvania’s mandatory reporting statute for suspected child abuse (23 Pa.C.S. §6311, Child Protective Services Law), saying:
…when a staff member reports abuse, pursuant to statute, the person in charge of the school or institution has the responsibility and legal obligation to report or cause such a report to be made by telephone and in writing within 48 hours to the Department of Public Welfare of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. An oral report should have been made to Centre County Children and Youth Services but none was made. Nor was there any attempt to identify Victim 2 or to protect that child or any others from similar conduct, except as related to preventing its re-occurrence on University property. The failure to report is a violation of law which was graded a summary offense in 2002, pursuant to 23 Pa.C.S. §63192.
The Grand Jury finds that Tim Curley made a materially false statement under oath in an official proceeding on January 12, 2011, when he testified before the 30th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, relating to the 2002 incident, that he was not told by the graduate assistant that Sandusky was engaged in sexual conduct or anal sex with a boy in the Lasch Building showers.
Furthermore, the Grand Jury find that Gary Schultz made a materially false statement under oath in an official proceeding on January 12, 2011, when he testified before the 30th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, that the allegations made by the graduate assistant were ‘not that serious’ and that he and Curley ‘had no indication that a crime had occurred.’
Curley and Schultz were both charged with perjury and failure to report the allegations. Curley requested a leave of absence so he could fight the charges, whereas Schultz resigned and went back into retirement. They both surrendered to the police and are out on $75,000 bail each. They did not enter pleas, but they had to turn in their passports. Both claim that they are innocent, with Curley’s lawyer calling the case weak and Schultz’s lawyer said the two men did what they were supposed to do, which was inform their superiors about the allegations.
PSU administrators weren’t the only ones to look the other way.
A moment of silence
Finally, we have Victim 1. In 2005 or 2006, he was eleven or twelve when he met Sandusky through The Second Mile program – when the boy was in his second year at said program. In 2007, the boy began to see Sandusky on a weekly basis, and he spent nights at Sandusky’s home. Sandusky would take the boy to pro and college sports events, such as Philadelphia Eagles games and pre-season Penn State practices. When Victim 1 spent the night at Sandusky’s house, the boy would sleep in the basement bedroom. Sandusky gave the boys gifts such as golf clubs, a computer, and cash. Sandusky took the boy to other places, such as church.
Victim 1 testified that when he slept over, Sandusky would climb into bed and rolling under Victim 1 who was already in bed. Then, Sandusky would grab the boy around the waist and ‘crack his back.’ This became routine, and it progressed to Sandusky rubbing Victim 1′s butt. This behavior started in 2005 or 2006, before the boy entered sixth or seventh grade. Next, Sandusky would blow on the boy’s bare stomach. This led, eventually, to Sandusky kissing the boy on the mouth. Sometimes, Victim 1 would try to hide from Sandusky.
Victim 1 testified that ultimately Sandusky performed oral sex on him more than 20 times through 2007 and early 2008. Sandusky also had Victim 1 perform oral sex on him one time and also touched Victim 1′s penis with his hands during the 2007 – 2008 time period. Victim 1 did not want to engage in sexual conduct with Sandusky and knew it was wrong. Victim 1 stopped taking Sandusky’s phone calls and had his mother tell Sandusky he was not home when Sandusky called. This termination of contact occurred in the spring of 2008, when Victim 1 was a freshman in high school.
Keep in mind, according to Victim 1, the assaults occurred for two to three years. Before Victim 1 broke off contact, Sandusky was allowed to take the boy out activity period/study hall at Clinton County high school without permission from a parent and meet with the boy in a school conference room. Sandusky helped with coaching of the varsity football team and had pretty much free reign of the school. And, remember, this is after the 2002 incidence in which the only punishment Sandusky received was that he was told not to bring young boys to the PSU campus any more. Victim 1′s mother was interviewed after the Grand Jury report was released, and she said:
I didn’t even know he was leaving the school with my child….I didn’t know he was taking him out of class. They never told me that.
Sandusky was allowed to take Victim 1 out of class as he pleased because of his status in the school and surrounding community. No one questioned him removing Victim 1 from class, or if someone did, that person was ignored.
Victim 1 testified to an incident in which he was climbing a rock-climbing wall in the weight room one evening at the high school; Sandusky was with him. The boy fell from the wall a few times, and after one such fall, Sandusky got on top of the boy and started wrestling with him. They were lying on the floor when a wrestling coach, Joe Miller, walked in. Sandusky jumped up and quickly explained they were just practicing wrestling moves, even though Sandusky was not a wrestling coach.
Miller found the use of that secluded room odd for wrestling because the bigger wrestling room right outside the weight room had more room to wrestle and more mats.
Miller testified that he frequently saw Sandusky with Victim 1.
Next up, Steven Turchetta, an assistant principal and head football coach at Victim 1′s high school. He reiterated that Sandusky was a volunteer assistant football coach. The Second Mile operated in that district, and some of the kids were on Turchetta’s football team. Turchetta met Sandusky in 2002 when Sandusky wanted to assist The Second Mile boys on the football team. In 2008, Sandusky became a full-time volunteer football coach for the team. Turchetta was the one who would call boys out of their study hall/activity period at Sandusky’s behest. Turchetta testified that he knew of several students who would spend time alone with Sandusky, including Victim 1. Sandusky would often want more time with the boys than the boys were willing to give, which would lead to shouting matches. Turchetta sometimes would mediate these arguments, and he was the point of contact if Sandusky had not been able to reach a particular boy the night before.
Turchetta testified that Sandusky would be ‘clingy’ and even ‘needy’ when a young man broke off the relationship he had established with him and called the behavior ‘suspicious.’
After Turchetta was made aware of the accusations by Victim 1′s mother, Sandusky was barred from the school and was reported to the authorities as mandated by law.
I need to interject again. As I read Turchetta’s testimony, my incredulity meter rose. Really? Turchetta acted as a broker between Sandusky and different students, witnessed shouting matches concerning the involvement of said students with Sandusky (not enough for Sandusky), pulled students out of class to meet with Sandusky, viewed Sandusky’s behavior as ‘suspicious’, and yet, he didn’t do anything about it before the allegations were made? He didn’t once think, “Hm, you know what? This is fucked up. I don’t think I’m going to let this happen any more.”? I have a very hard time believing that Turchetta didn’t have suspicions in his mind as he continued to be the go-between for Sandusky and the students Sandusky chose to mentor, so to speak.
The last of the Grand Jury findings and my conclusions.
Hooded figure
The Office of Attorney General Narcotic Agent Anthony Sassano testified that there were 61 phone calls from Sandusky’s home phone to Victim 1′s home phone between January 2008 and July 2009. In the same time frame, there were 57 calls from Sandusky’s cell phone to Victim 1′s home phone. Four calls were made from Victim 1′s home phone to Sandusky’s cell, and one call was made from Victim 1′s mother’s cell phone to Sandusky’s cell.
Another witness, F.A., aged 15, testified that Sandusky had taken him and Victim 1 to an Eagles game and that Sandusky was driving. He saw Sandusky put his hand on Victim 1′s knee, which Sandusky had done to hi m as well on more than one occasion. It made F.A. uncomfortable, but when he tried to move away, Sandusky kept his hand where it was. F.A. also testified that Sandusky would lean over while driving, lift F.A.’s shirt and tickle his bare stomach; F.A. saw Sandusky do this to Victim 1, too. F.A. slept over once at Sandusky’s home, but only when he knew Victim 1 was going to be there, too. F.A. did not like the physical contact and started avoiding Sandusky. Victim 1 testified that Sandusky drove with his hand on Victim 1′s knee.
That sums up the Grand Jury findings. As things currently stand, President Spanier resigned from PSU as did Vice President Gary Schultz. Athletic Director Tim Curley was placed on administrative leave, and Coach Joe Paterno was fired*, but not currently under investigation. The Department of Education is investigating whether the handling of this case violated federal law. Jerry Sandusky was released on $100,000 unsecured bail by a judge who also volunteers at The Second Mile**, even though the prosecutors asked for bail to be set at $500,000 and that Sandusky wear a leg monitor. Unsecured bail means Sandusky won’t have to pay any money unless he doesn’t show up in court. Personally, I think that is really fucking lenient bail for his alleged crimes, but, again, I cannot speak to the legal aspect of the case – though, technically, I just did, I suppose.
As for the victims, if the allegations are true, there are numerous boys who have been sexually assaulted/raped by Sandusky and have had to deal with the aftermaths of said attacks. Sandusky founded The Second Mile in 1977, so I would not be surprised if more allegation are yet to surface. As I reviewed the Grand Jury report and consulted other resources in researching this case, the thing that kept running through my mind is how so many men knew about this along the way and did not do all they could to stop it. If just one of these men had said, “Hey, this isn’t right,” and refused to stop until he uncovered the truth, Sandusky could have been stopped a long time ago. One man doing the right thing, continuously, no matter the consequences. I know it’s easy for me to say that from the outside and in retrospect, but it was what I kept thinking as I wrote these posts.
Yet, not one of these men did that. The culture of PSU football was sacrosanct to them, and anyone associated with the program was given undue deference. Time and time again, Sandusky’s behavior was accepted without question, and that was one big reason, if the accusations are true, that he was able to get away with his criminal behavior for decades. Even now, as I’m wrapping this up, that’s the thought that keeps haunting me and the thought that won’t let me sleep – not one of the men in positions of power had the courage to stop this nightmare from continuing.
*I intend to write a post about the firing of Paterno and the subsequent reactions of the students and PSU, but I need a few days break from the PSU case to clear my head before I tackle the subject again.
**There is nothing inappropriate about the fact that she volunteers at The Second Mile, but she might have thought to recuse herself from the case because of the connection.
There are no heroes in this case but there are two heroines: The mothers who reported Sandusky to the authorities in 1998 and 2008.
I think the boy who stayed a part of the Grand Jury investigation for 3 years, according to his mother, is pretty heroic. The [female] principal who finally questioned a child and immediately, tearfully called his mother to come to the school and reported what she heard from the boy also did the right thing.
This was an excellent series. Thank you.
Please explore this: what did Paterno know and when did he know it? Thanks for your work.
You raise so many key points…very difficult.
“Nor was there any attempt to identify Victim 2 or to protect that child or any others from similar conduct, except as related to preventing its re-occurrence on University property.”
Indefensible and damning. Sickening beyond belief. To me, this needs to be broadcast far and wide. The university didn’t even try to find out who the child was and said basically, do what you want to these children, just not on the campus. In what universe is that okay?
“The culture of PSU football was sacrosanct to them, and anyone associated with the program was given undue deference. Time and time again, Sandusky’s behavior was accepted without question, and that was one big reason, if the accusations are true, that he was able to get away with his criminal behavior for decades.”
This is the point I’ve been trying to raise over and over. PSU football was hallowed. JoePa was hallowed. Sandusky was hallowed. And it reached wide and far across the state and the country. JoePa held a campus rally for George Bush II. His attorney is the same attorney that represented Bush I in other cases in the past. To me this is a clarion call that narratives are established for a reason. Self-supporting and contained narratives of goodness and honesty and righteousness may necessarily hide something. Sandusky found the perfect environment – Hallowed and powerful institution that was not questioned because of the pointed and purposeful meme of goodness and righteousness.
I saw an interview this morning with OJ McDuffie, one of my contemporaries. From all accounts and personally being an acquaintance, OJ is a good guy. He also runs a charity in Florida. His charity will be tainted by this case. All the good some of the PSU community has done will be tainted by this cover-up. But my point was, OJ said, he hoped he wasn’t used by Sandusky to entice these boys. Yes, OJ you were used. Your excellence in your craft was used to entice these boys by Sandusky. Our adulation and unquestioning support was used by Sandusky. And yes, it makes me physically ill.
Did you see the interview with a woman who worked at the foundation? She talked about being sickened to have been instruments in feeding Sandusky’s habit. At the end she talked about being a child-abuse victim herself and further sickened that she hadn’t put the signs together. We see what we want to see, the only question is what’s creating the lenses.
I didn’t see it. I’ll look for it online. I think multiple filters. And wouldn’t those “underprivileged” boys just be pleased as punch to spend time…right…you know that’s part of it…just like Barbara Bush’s comments about the Katrina evacuees in Houston’s SuperDome.
I find it interesting that the so called esteemed governor on Sunday pointed the finger solely at McQueary..almost as though he thinks no one has read the findings. Just makes me feel his hands are dirty as well.
Have also been thinking about the disappearance of that D.A. and find it odd that if in fact he committed suicide like his brother, the body has never been found..seems more than a little strange.
Exactly. While Gov. Corbett was being all high-and-mighty about McQueary I’m thinking to myself, “Hey, you were the Attorney General while some of this was going on. Not exactly in the best position to throw stones at somebody else.”
It horrifies me to think that what we do know is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Governor has some skin in this, too. This past year, education budgets were cut significantly for all state-related universities. PSU isn’t a true state school. It is a state-related university along with Temple U and Lincoln U. Mostly private but subsidies from the state. At any rate, initially all state-related schools were going to get their funding cut significantly. PSU lobbied to have part of their budget cuts re-instated and they did get more from the state than was initially reported. Corbett knew about the investigation because he was the state attorney general that started the investigation and was the Governor that approved the budget increase. So he has some explaining to do on that front. So far, no one in the media has picked up on asking him how and why he would have increased funding to PSU with our state hurting so much budgetarily, and I’m pretty sure PSU still has a nice endowment and PSU football brings in 50 million profit every year, and he knew what was alleged in the GJ presentment.
Thank you for this series. I hope it remains available online, it’s an invaluable resource.
In a case with so many unanswered questions. . . have authorities ever identified and interviewed Victim 2. It would seem that without his testimony, the perjury charges against Schultz and Curley come down to McQueary’s word against theirs.
But now McQ is trying to change his story, or at least the part about his actions. It’s only going to get worse until all the facts are in.
Great job throughout this series. It’s so disheartening. Yet in a way, I guess it’s not that shocking — we live in a culture that reveres “great men” and define them as “men who kick ass” in sports, Wall Street, politics, rising in the church hierarchy, etc.
So if those “great men” (and yes, sometimes women are sexual predators, too) want to get their rocks off in a sick and disgusting way with something as powerless and disposable and not-central-to-the-plans-for-victory as a child — well, that’s their prerogative and how can anyone get in the way of the “great men” and the “heroes?”
If we actually ever managed to make heroes of people whose code of moral conduct revolves around making other people’s lives better, and not just victory and power, maybe the dynamic would change. As it is, I think every one of the people you’ve mentioned in the university and beyond had to at least have strong suspicions of what was going on, if not outright knowledge — but their own shitty need for hero worship and validation and victory-by-proxy with the PSU program overrode their moral compass.
Sick fucking world we live in.
Thank you so much for this series. I read the Grand Jury report right after it came out, but your series helped flesh some things out that needed to be said.
An excellent series. Thanks for this. I know it can’t have been easy.
Thanks, Minna. Heartbreaking and horrifying, I hope that this series is spread far and wide.
One of the few bright spots to come out of this is that other states are suddenly looking at their own reporting requirements. It turns out that NY’s law has a few gaps in who is required to report incidents like this, and those gaps are now in the process of being remedied.
There are many lessons to be learned from this case, let’s hope that the right ones are.
I appreciate your giving us that update, Norbrook. I truly do hope that more states will follow suit.
Asiangirl has done an amazing service with these posts and I only wish they would be published in the mainstream media for all to read. Front page.
If anyone is interested, Charles Pierce has written a searing post that is well worth reading. It cuts like a knife through the bullshit at Penn State.
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7233704/the-brutal-truth-penn-state
I read that this morning…ouch !! He nails it by example.
I read that article you posted and still have it up in my browser to re-read. Grantland is getting it far too right.
Thanks for that link, MacKenna. It does indeed cut through the BS of “brand protection” and the corporate lockstep mentality that infects every aspect of our culture — nonprofits, churches, schools, and finance. Somehow, we as a society have decided that airing dirty laundry (unless it’s a dumb celebrity divorce or whatever) is worse than creating power structures that allow these abuses to be so widespread. I have relatives who to this day, even though they kinda sorta know that a lot of children have been abused over the years in the Catholic Church, believe that the “media” made a big deal out of it because of “liberal bias.” So wanting justice and protection for children is now a liberal bias? Ugh.
Here’s an amazing development: Sandusky admitted that he is a child molester in an NBC interview. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/jerry-sandusky-i-seeking-young-person-sexual-helped-article-1.977730#art_comments_tab
I can’t and haven’t watched the interview but I’ve heard snippets on TV. When he was asked if he was sexually attracted to young boys…classic stalling. It was all I needed to hear. He was lying and stalling. Classic example and now the excerpt that you provide. I wonder if any of this is admissible in court. It probably isn’t but his attorney also leaves much to be desired when it comes to appropriate contact between adults and children. While legally a 16 year old has reached the age of consent in PA, still…
Once again, I thank everyone for reading and for commenting. This was a difficult series to write, and knowing that people got something out of it really helped me keep going. I am sure there will be more revelations to come. This story, sadly, is just beginning.
Who really is Jerry Sadusky? A District Attorney disappears. His computer’s hard drive disappeared. The DA was handling a complaint against Jerry Sandusky where he was alleged of abusing a young boy who was attending the Second Mile Program. Then we now find out that Jerry Sadusky was using Penn State’s sports complex to shower in the nude with young boys and was even seen have anal sex with a ten year old boy in the shower. The President of Penn is fired. Tim Curley is arrested for perjury along with Gary Schultz. Curley hurried and left Penn State as did Schultz. Joe Paterno announces he is retiring at the end of the football season, but hours after he made that announcement, he is fired. What was Jerry Sandusky holding over the heads of these men that they never told the truth about Jerry Sandusky’s crimes of raping young boys? Instead they chose to Cover-up as well as aiding and betting Sandusky’s criminal behavior. Or was it that football meant so much at Penn State, they chose to keep the dirty secrets undercover?
I just thought of one other thing involving the 2000 and 2002 cases. Especially for the 2002 case. If they did nothing but collude behind closed doors to cover it up, didn’t even investigate to find the boy, they never notified his parents either. I’m floored.
I have been in the recreation field for 50 years starting as a counselor in kids sleep away camps. As a female I presume to know nothing about male locker mentality, but…. could someone explain the difference between a man showering in a public place with a young boy and a man in a trench coat in a park flashing visitors? Most sane adults get the second incident, but it seems that many including intelligent college students who protested as well as administrators, don’t get that what happened is the same crime!!
Thanks for the history concerning these filthy scumbags at Penn State. I read the grad jury report in its entirety and wanted to cry,yell and get some payback for the atrocity’s of Sandusky and the other filth at Penn State. I found this blog at Penn State where the bloggers think that Sandusky is innocent and that the case against him is floundering and that he will get off in the end (No pun intended) – http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/12/another_version_of_mike_mcquea/3032/comments-newest.html Personally I like to go there and harass all the idiots, it helps me vent; I suggest you all do the same thing.
Keep up the great work
btw – I’m angry to . . .
MrEthiopian
Thank You so much for the indepth coverage of this sad and preventable event. I have read on the internet about a rumor that sandusky pimped out boys to wealthy donors of the Second Mile. Any truth to this and if so could you explore this subject as well?
Thank You again.
Great Work,
wm