How Could You? Hall of Shame Part Three-Jerry Sandusky UPDATED
The updates are too numerous to include in even two posts, so we will continue to add new posts for every 10 updates.
Part One can be found here.
Part Two can be found here.
“Two allegations of child abuse brought against Jerry Sandusky by family members after his November arrest have been labeled unfounded, the attorney for the former Penn State football defensive coordinator said.
The 68-year-old Sandusky received a letter in the mail from Children and Youth Services last month telling him that two cases opened shortly after his Nov. 5 arrest on dozens of separate child sex abuse charges would not lead to more charges.”
“Amendola also wants Cleland to force prosecutors to hand over dozens of pages of evidence that he says were redacted from discovery — evidence prosecutors and police have uncovered and must turn over to the defense in preparation for its case.”
” psychologist report regarding Victim One, and doctor’s records regarding Victim Six; plus, at least one other psychologist’s report for an unidentified person.
A full copy of the police interview with late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno.
Details of an interview with former Center County Assistant District Attorney Karen Arnold, in which Amendola said she had “extensive disagreements” with her boss, missing former District Attorney Ray Gricar. Gricar made the decision not to prosecute Sandusky when two boys alleged he touched them during a shower incident at Penn State in 1998.
Documents and police reports regarding incident investigations involving Sandusky’s sixth adopted son, Matt Sandusky. His biological mother has raised several concerns about her son’s relationship with Sandusky.
Eight boxes of photographs seized by subpoena from The Second Mile, the children’s charity that Sandusky founded and where prosecutors say Sandusky met most of his alleged victims.
Travel records from Penn State that detail arrangements for the football team during the 1999 Outback Bowl in Florida.
Prosecutors’ “victim ideology” report and the identity of all accusers who came forward but “did not fit the commonwealth’s profile and/or the report was deemed to be false.”
Sandusky had already asked for the names and ages of his accusers, along with the exact locations and dates where they claim they were molested.”
Attorney: Jerry Sandusky cleared of two allegations and as trial approaches, no indication more charges to be filed [The Patriot-News 2/8/12 by Sara Ganim ]
“Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky will be back in court Friday morning, hoping to convince a judge to change the conditions of his house arrest so that he can see his grandchildren.
The 68-year-old, who’s charged with 52 counts related to child molestation for the alleged abuse of 10 young men during a 15-year period, says his grandkids have expressed sadness about not being able to see him and he wants the terms of his bail changed so they can visit.
Prosecutors say Sandusky’s home is where many of his alleged victims were molested, and if anything, they want to see his bail terms tightened so that he can’t sit on his back porch, as he’s currently allowed to do. His outdoor presence has concerned local residents, especially since there’s a school playground adjacent to his property.”
Jerry Sandusky Returns to Court Seeking Change to Terms of Bail
[ABC News 2/10/12 by Jeanette Torres]
Update 22/February 14, 2012
“Jerry Sandusky declared Friday that people have turned against him, moments after the ex-Penn State football coordinator asked a judge for greater freedom while he awaits trial on child sex abuse charges.”
Oh boo hoo!
“”I’ve associated with thousands of young people over the years,” said Sandusky, 68, the former Penn State defensive coordinator charged with 52 criminal counts involving 10 victims over 15 years. “And now, all of a sudden, because of allegations and perceptions that have been tried to be created of me, now I can’t take our dog on my deck and throw out biscuits to him.”
Oh boo hoo!
“Now all of a sudden, these people turn on me when they’ve been in my home with their kids,” he said. “They’ve attended birthday parties when they’ve been on that deck. When their kids have been playing in my yard. When their kids have been sled riding when they’ve asked to sled ride. It’s difficult for me to understand.”
Seriously? You can’t understand that?
“State prosecutor Jonelle Eshbach told the judge that a clearly defined trip to help his legal team would be one thing, but she was against letting him have visitors. The allegations include charges he sexually attacked a boy in the basement of his home, while his wife was upstairs.
“This home was not safe for children for 15 years, and it’s not safe for children now,” Eshbach said.
“We think that the actual contact, visitation with his grandchildren is not a good idea. And we also feel that way with regard to visitors.”
Prosecutors noted that one daughter-in-law strongly objects to increased contact between her children and Sandusky, while Amendola presented the court with letters from Sandusky’s children, and notes and drawings from his grandchildren, expressing their desire for increased contact.”
Possible Trial Start of May 14
“The hearing concerned various issues that have arisen since Sandusky was first arrested in early November. Cleland indicated he hoped to start trial May 14.”
Sandusky Says He Feels People Have Turned on Him
[ABC News 2/10/12 by Mark Scolforo/Associated Press]
See Sandusky speak post-hearing at the Associated Press video It is a breathtaking, entitled spouting. Currently a case in California of Cristan Rooms has a $12 Million Bail on his head and he has fewer victim allegations. Robert Gaskill in Chicago is being held on $50 Million Bail and has MANY fewer victim allegations yet Jerry gets bail and wants extreme freedoms in the home where many alleged actions occurred!
Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State defensive coordinator, gets ‘OK’ to see grandchildren, leave College Township home [New York Daily News 2/13/12 by Michael O’Keefe and Christian Red] says “A Pennsylvania judge ruled on Monday that former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky can have supervised visits with most of his grandchildren and rejected a request from prosecutors to keep the accused pedophile indoors while on home confinement before trial.
Centre County Court Judge John Cleland said there was no evidence that the parents of Sandusky’s grandchildren would not keep them safe during visits with the 68-year-old Sandusky, who faces 52 criminal counts for allegedly sexually abusing 10 boys during a 15-year period.
Prosecutors had also asked the judge to bar Sandusky from leaving his College Township home because neighbors had expressed concern about the safety of children at a nearby school.
“The commonwealth failed to present any evidence whatsoever that the defendant presents a clearly defined threat to any student at the adjoining elementary school simply by being on his deck,” Cleland wrote. “No evidence was presented that at any time the defendant made any effort to contact any of the children by signaling or calling to them, or that he made any gestures directed toward them, or that he acted in any inappropriate way whatsoever.”
Cleland deferred decisions about visits from three of Sandusky’s grandchildren — who are involved in a custody dispute — to the judge overseeing that case. Sandusky’s lawyer, Joe Amendola, issued a statement saying his client was “relieved by and pleased with” the ruling, which will allow Sandusky to see his remaining eight grandchildren.
Cleland also rejected proseuctors’ request to ship in a jury from outside Centre County, but acknowledged that jury selection will be difficult because Penn State plays an oversized role in the county, and because of the pretrial press coverage.
Cleland encouraged prosecutors to work with the judge who supervised a grand jury that investigated Sandusky to figure out how to release grand jury transcripts to Sandusky’s lawyers in a way that protects the secrecy of the proceeding while assuring the trial can proceed. Cleland also ordered prosecutors to tell defense lawyers where and when the purported crimes occurred and how old the children were at the time.
Sandusky lost a request to force prosecutors to disclose the names, addresses and birth dates of witnesses.” [At least one sane thing came from this!]
Tim Curley Case
“Also on Monday, the attorney for the university’s former athletic director, Tim Curley, filed court documents that attempt to use the death of longtime PSU football coach Joe Paterno as leverage to have Curley’s perjury charge tossed.
Curley was charged in November with one count of perjury and one count of failure to report suspected child abuse. Another former PSU administrator, Gary Schultz, is also charged with perjury in the scandal that led to the firings of Paterno and president Graham Spanier.
But Curley’s attorney, Caroline Roberto, filed court papers in Dauphin County Monday, arguing that because of Paterno’s death from lung cancer Jan. 22, the perjury charge leveled against Curley should be dismissed.
Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary testified that he witnessed Sandusky raping a boy in the showers of the Penn State football building in 2002, when McQueary was a graduate assistant. McQueary testified that he first told Paterno about the incident the morning after witnessing the alleged abuse, and later told Curley and Schultz. Curley and Schultz never reported the’02 incident to authorities and testified before a grand jury that McQueary didn’t explicitly say he witnessed sodomy.
Roberto argued that because Paterno was the only other witness to corroborate McQueary’s account — and because Pennsylvania’s perjury statute “requires corroboration of the falsity of the statement” — the perjury charge cannot stand.”
Update 23/February 24, 2012
“Federal authorities are apparently conducting an investigation involving Penn State, Jerry Sandusky and his charity, The Second Mile, parallel to the case already being prosecuted by the state attorney general’s office.
A Penn State spokeswoman confirmed Thursday that the university received a subpoena Feb. 2 from Peter J. Smith, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, requesting information about the university, former President Graham Spanier, and Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, top Penn State officials who are charged with perjury and failure to report a crime.
Smith’s office could not be reached for comment Thursday night.
Information also was requested about Sandusky and The Second Mile, Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers said. She said the university is fully cooperating with the U.S. attorneys office.
A second source with knowledge of the investigation said The Second Mile — the children’s charity through which a state grand jury alleges Sandusky met and pursued almost all of the 10 boys hes charged with sexually abusing — also received a request from the U.S. attorney for information days after Sandusky was arrested in early November. That request was related to Sandusky’s travel records, the source said. Much of the same information had already been requested by the state attorney generals office, the source said.
According to the state grand jury’s presentment, one of the alleged victims said he was taken across state lines at least twice — to bowl games in Tampa, Fla., and San Antonio, Texas.
Local police in both cities have said they opened their own child abuse investigations as a result of the grand jury presentment. Police would not comment beyond that.
Typically, when an investigation involves more than one state, federal authorities assume jurisdiction.”
Federal authorities are conducting separate investigation involving Jerry Sandusky, Penn State, The Second Mile
[The Patriot-News 2/23/12 by Sara Ganim]
Update 24/February 29, 2012
Sandusky seeks 2-month delay in child sex-abuse trial, to mid-July, citing volume of prep work
[Washington Post 2/27/12 by Associated Press] says
“Jerry Sandusky’s lawyer on Monday asked the judge in his child sex-abuse case to delay the start of his criminal trial until mid-July, saying he needed more time to prepare.
Defense lawyer Joe Amendola said the additional two months would help him contact and interview witnesses, subpoena records and hire experts. Earlier this month, Judge John Cleland tentatively scheduled jury selection in the former Penn State assistant football coach’s trial to begin May 14, with jurors chosen from State College and the surrounding area.
Sandusky, 68, faces 52 criminal charges he sexually abused 10 boys over a 15-year period, allegations he denies.
Amendola said prosecutors have been providing him with investigative materials that have produced a number of potential witnesses who have to be located, and that defense experts will need time to review documents, prepare opinions and get ready to testify.
He said prosecutors do not object to the request, but messages left after hours Monday for a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office were not immediately returned.
Amendola also sought three more weeks to file a catch-all pretrial motion that is due on Thursday, saying he expects additional material to be handed over by prosecutors, and that they also did not object to that delay.”
Update 25/March 6, 2012
“A judge has rejected Jerry Sandusky’s claim that he needs until mid-July to prepare for trial on child sexual abuse charges and ordered Sandusky’s attorneys to be ready by May 14.
In an order filed Tuesday afternoon, Judge John M. Cleland also gave prosecutors seven days to turn over addresses and phone numbers of witnesses identified in investigative materials to Sandusky’s lawyers.”
“Cleland noted that the trial date is still 101/2 weeks away and that if the trial is postponed, there is no guarantee that another issue will not require further delay.
“Delay has a way of begetting delay,” Cleland wrote. “Therefore the postponement of a trial should be the last resort, and granted only after all other attempts to remedy the impediments to the conduct of a prompt trial have been exhausted.”
Cleland’s order also extended the deadlines for Sandusky’s lawyers to file pretrial motions.
Sandusky, 68, is charged with 52 counts of child sexual abuse for allegedly molesting boys he met through his charity for disadvantaged children. Sandusky is accused of abusing the boys on the Penn State campus, in his State College home and elsewhere between 1994 and 2008.”
Judge denies Jerry Sandusky’s request to postpone sex abuse trial
[Chicago Tribune 2/29/12 by Peter Hall]
“Prosecutors claim former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused boys ranging in age from 8 to 17, eight of whom were molested on the school’s campus, according to a document with new details about the case filed Thursday.
Prosecutors: Sandusky abused boys as young as 8
[USA Today 3/1/12 by Associated Press]
“Former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has no right to review psychological evaluations or juvenile arrest records of his accusers as he prepares his defense on child-sex-abuse charges, prosecutors said in a court filing Monday.
In a motion filed in Centre County Court, Senior Deputy Attorney General Jonelle H. Eshbach maintained that those records fall under state laws protecting juvenile privacy and could not be used against eight young men who are expected to testify against Sandusky at trial.
Eshbach also sought to deny Sandusky’s defense team access to hundreds of subpoenas issued during the original investigation and documents that would identify the direction of an ongoing grand jury probe.
“The prosecution is not required to turn over every piece of evidence which might possibly assist the preparation of the defense,” she wrote.”
“The state’s motion comes one month after Sandusky’s attorney – Joseph Amendola – accused prosecutors of withholding or redacting hundreds of pages of police reports, interview notes, and other material he believed he was entitled to as part of the pretrial discovery process.
He declined to comment Monday, saying he was still reviewing prosecutors’ 15-page filing.
At various points, Amendola has suggested that his client’s alleged victims fabricated their stories because they themselves were in trouble with the law or they had colluded together to tarnish Sandusky’s reputation. As of yet, he has offered no evidence to support his claims.
But while the state’s filing Monday and Amendola’s earlier request make only vague references to the purported victims’ medical histories or criminal pasts, both documents make clear that investigators vetted the young men during their three-year investigation.
Mental-health specialists evaluated the Clinton County boy whose allegations of inappropriate touching over four years launched the state’s investigation into Sandusky in 2009.
Other victims appeared to have received the same scrutiny.
Included in a 1998 Penn State Police Department report, prosecutors said in their filing Monday, were reports of four police incidents involving another purported victim and a report on his mental state drafted by a psychologist who examined him at the time.
That year, investigators were looking into a report from a State College mother who contended that Sandusky had admitted to showering naked with her son. The boy is among the 10 victims involved in the current case against the former coach.
Though officers filed a long report of their findings at the time, the case was never prosecuted.
Amendola had also requested any documents from the office of former Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar that would explain the decision not to charge Sandusky at the time.
Prosecutors said Monday that they had no such records, if they ever existed at all. (Gricar disappeared in 2005 and is presumed dead.)”
Prosecutors seek to limit Sandusky’s access to records
[Philadelphia Inquirer 3/6/12 by Jeremy Roebuck]
Update 26: “Jerry Sandusky will receive transcripts of grand jury testimony 10 days before the first witness is sworn in for his trial on 52 counts of child sex abuse.”
“Judge Barry F. Feudale, who oversaw the grand jury that investigated allegations against Sandusky, ruled Wednesday that Sandusky and his attorney Joe Amendola should receive approximately 581 pages of transcripts. Those transcripts will include any grand jury witness scheduled to testify at the trial.
Sandusky originally asked for the transcripts to be released Feb. 28. Feudale rejected that motion, but said “the interests of justice will be served by authorizing” the early release.
By law, the defendant does not have to receive the transcripts until after a witness has testified at trial. Such a release schedule would likely have delayed the trial significantly, legal analysts have said.
While Sandusky and Amendola can review the transcripts, Karl Rominger — the Carlisle-area attorney assisting Amendola — might not be allowed to.
In a footnote in the ruling, Feudale wrote that since Rominger had not appeared before the grand jury representing Sandusky, “he has no right to notice of the proceedings and/or to participate as counsel in grand jury proceedings.” Trial Judge John Cleland will make that decision.
In the same footnote, Feudale wrote that Rominger previously had Tweeted the time, date and location of a secret grand jury proceeding.
Sandusky’s trial is scheduled to begin May 14. The 68-year-old former Penn State coaching legend has a pre-trial hearing scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday in Bellefonte.”
Jerry Sandusky allowed to see grand jury testimony 10 days before trial
[The Patriot-News 3/7/12 by Jeff Franz]
Update 27: At the Monday March 12th hearing, the judge delayed the decision.
“Sandusky, who didn’t attend today’s hearing, seeks exact times, dates and locations for the allegations. Prosecutors, who have shared information on the general allegations of each alleged victim, argued against giving such details citing trauma to the victims. Prosecutors have also argued against revealing some pretrial evidence citing the confidentiality of information gathered during grand jury proceedings, and an ongoing investigation.
The request by Sandusky lawyer Joseph Amendola for precise times and dates is “unprecedented,” Senior Deputy Attorney General Joseph McGettigan told state court Judge John M. Cleland during a hearing today in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. ”
Sandusky Judge Delays Ruling on Alleged Penn State Sex Abuse Case Evidence
[Business Week 3/12/12 by Sophia Pearson and Drew Gingrich]
On March 13, the judge sided with the prosecutors. Sandusky now asks for dismissal of charges.
“Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky will ask that all 52 counts of child sex abuse be dismissed after a state judge today sided with Pennsylvania prosecutors who said they are unable to provide specific details about where and when many of the crimes occurred, Sandusky’s defense lawyer, Joe Amendola, said.
Judge John Cleland dismissed Sandusky’s request for more specific information as “moot,” saying that Pennsylvania law provides prosecutors with “greater latitude when the alleged crimes involve sexual offenses against a young child.”
Sandusky is accused of abusing 10 young boys over the course of 15 years. Earlier this month, however, prosecutors said in court papers that they do not know the identity of two of the 10 victims and that the specific dates of the alleged offenses against seven of the victims are “unknown.” In most of the cases, prosecutors said, they were unable to provide specific dates of the alleged abuse because the incidents were too “numerous.”
Amendola said the specific information was needed to assist Sandusky in mounting a defense for the May 14 trial.
“The commonwealth stated … that it cannot provide further details beyond what it has already supplied,” Cleland stated in the Tuesday ruling. “Therefore, any order directing the commonwealth to supply details would be a futile act.”
Sandusky to ask for dismissal, citing lack of details
[USA Today 3/13/12 by Kevin Johnson]
Update 28: “Prosecutors on Tuesday were ordered to give Jerry Sandusky’s lawyer the phone numbers and addresses of those who have accused the former Penn State assistant football coach of child sex abuse.
It was a pretrial win for Sandusky’s lawyer, Joe Amendola, who argued in a filing late last week that it would be very difficult for defense investigators to locate and try to interview them without first getting contact information from prosecutors. The order also extends to the phone numbers and addresses of the accusers when the crimes are alleged to have occurred.
The order by Judge John Cleland could also lead to the prosecution turning over any psychological evaluations performed on the accusers, but the attorney general’s office was given another week to try to persuade him they are protected by legal privilege and not subject to disclosure.
The psychological evaluations would be produced under seal, and Amendola wouldn’t be allowed to do more than read them without getting the judge’s prior approval.
Amendola is specifically seeking a psychologist’s report related to a person described as Victim 6 in a grand jury report, saying he believes it contains a conclusion that Sandusky didn’t sexually abuse the boy. The grand jury said Victim 6’s mother complained to authorities after he showered with Sandusky in 1998. The subsequent investigation by Penn State police didn’t result in any charges.
Ben Andreozzi, the lawyer for another accuser, said Amendola was trying to put the victims on trial and create distractions. He said Amendola “knows better than to contact my client.”
“Mr. Sandusky knows what he did to these young men, so he would be wise not to challenge the veracity of their allegations at trial,” Andreozzi said. “Instead, I anticipate he will continue to raise irrelevant issues while grasping at straws, trying to create reasonable doubt.”
Amendola said he was only seeking information he was legally entitled to as he prepares a defense for Sandusky, who has maintained his innocence from the outset. The 68-year-old Sandusky awaits a scheduled mid-May start of trial on 52 criminal counts. Prosecutors say he sexually abused 10 boys over 15 years.
Cleland required prosecutors to disclose juvenile adjudication records that might help Amendola attack the credibility of any witness the state plans to call at trial.
That does not apply to drug or alcohol violations, however, and Amendola had argued that several accusers used drugs and alcohol as juveniles, which he said might affect their ability to testify accurately.
Cleland’s order said requests for grand jury information must first be made to the judge who oversees the secret panel. If that judge says grand jury secrecy prevents their release, Cleland said he intends to abide by that decision. Otherwise, Cleland said, he will reconsider Amendola’s request.
A spokesman for the attorney general’s office declined to comment on the latest filing.”
Judge gives Sandusky lawyer accusers’ contact info
[Associated Press 3/20/12 by Mark Scolforo]
“The state Department of Public Welfare investigator who closed a child sexual abuse investigation against Jerry Sandusky in 1998 said he likely would not have closed it had he seen reports from two psychologists who interviewed the young accuser.
“The course of history could have been changed,” Lauro said.
Jerry Lauro, brought in to investigate the child abuse claims against Sandusky, said Wednesday that Penn State police never shared those conflicting reports with him before he closed the case. Lauro said he closed the case because he did not believe there was enough evidence based solely on interviews.
Lauro was interviewed by the state grand jury that recently brought 52 child sex abuse charges involving 10 boys against Sandusky, but he said he did not even know that psychologists had evaluated the boy, then 11, until a reporter who acquired the 100-page report approached Lauro and showed him the reports.
Penn State “Detective [Ron] Schreffler never shared any of these with me,” Lauro said, referring to reports from psychologist John Seasock and a female psychologist. Seasock concluded that the boy was not sexually abused two days before the case was closed. The report of the female psychologist who evaluated the boy right after the incident found Sandusky was exhibiting signs of grooming a victim for sexual abuse.
“The conclusions she had drawn in her report were pretty damaging,” Lauro said. “I would have made a different decision. … It’s unbelievable, and it gets my blood pressure going when I think about it.”
Schreffler, when reached by phone, declined comment. “My report speaks for itself,” he said before hanging up.
Information about the two psychological reports surfaced last week when Sandusky’s attorney, Joe Amendola, made a formal request for copies of them in preparation for trial. Judge John Cleland ruled that Amendola can read them but can’t use them in court without getting his permission.
A source who reviewed the documents told The Patriot-News that he believed Seasock’s report that the boy was not abused was the reason that former and missing District Attorney Ray Gricar never pursued charges against Sandusky in 1998.
Gricar’s role has become the subject of much fodder and conjecture for two reasons: The case is the only other known time that police knew of allegations against Sandusky. And Gricar vanished in 2005. He was declared dead last summer but his case still stumps investigators, who say they have no evidence that his disappearance is linked to the Sandusky case.
When child abuse is reported, police and county Children and Youth Services typically conduct separate investigations. They work together but can have different conclusions.
In this case, since Centre County CYS worked closely with Sandusky’s charity, The Second Mile, Lauro was brought in from the state Department of Public Welfare to do the child abuse investigation.
Schreffler and Penn State police closed the criminal investigation at Gricar’s request. But Lauro still could have decided to pursue the case within child protective services.
That doesn’t mean Sandusky would have been charged. But it means the finding could have gone into the child abuse registry and The Second Mile might have been notified.
Lauro has said Schreffler also never told him the details of a meeting set up by police between Sandusky and the boy’s mother, in which police were listening secretly from another room. Prosecutors say Sandusky admitted to the mother that he touched her son and said, “I wish I were dead.”
“I remember my last conversation with [Schreffler] concerning him hiding in that room,” Lauro said last year. “He didn’t tell me details. All he said was, ‘There’s nothing to it — we’re going to close our case.’ And I said, ‘That’s fine, I’m going to close my case, too.’ “
The mother of Victim Six says that she had believed Seasock was a paid consultant for CYS when she took her son to see him.
The other psychologist, whom the mother had contacted as soon as her son came home and told her that Sandusky had forced him to take a shared shower, saw her son over a longer period of time, she said.
“And that psychologist concluded that this incident … was a classic example of how a sexual abuser grooms his victim,” said a source who saw the report. ”
Patriot-News Special Report: 1998 Jerry Sandusky investigator would have pursued dropped case if he had seen hidden Penn State police report
[The Patriot-News 3/22/12 by Sara Ganim]
Update 29/April 2, 2012
”
Penn State police were warned Jerry Sandusky fit the profile of a pedophile in 1998, an internal memo has revealed.
The memo, published by NBC News, was written by Alycia Chambers, who was a psychologist for an 11-year-old boy who knew Sandusky through his charity for troubled boys, Second Mile Program.
The boy is not named in the report, but is now known as Victim 6. He is one of 10 boys allegedly molested by the former Penn State coach over a 15-year period. Sandusky denies the allegations against him.
The boy’s mother contacted Chambers after he returned home from a night of weightlifting with Sandusky, the memo says. He had wet hair, and explained to his mother that Sandusky asked him to take a shower with him. When they were naked, he came up behind him and tightly squeezed their bodies together, according to the memo.
The mother called Chambers early the next morning on her emergency line, and relayed the story to her, wanting to confirm she was not overreacting by calling the police.
From Chambers’ report:
He reported that Jerry played a game, coming up behind him, saying he would “squeeze his guts out” and hugging REDACTED from behind. REDACTED wanted his mother not to say anything because Mr. Sandusky had promised to take him to the movies and to let him sit on the bench with him at Penn State football games.
Chambers met with the boy, who reported being worried about what to do next, the memo says. He also spilled a detail that he hadn’t told his mom: Sandusky had kissed him on the head and said “I love you.”
The memo adds that Sandusky promised the boy he could come to his house and play on his “cool computer” while sitting on his lap.
Chambers reported the incident to the Pennsylvania child abuse line and wrote a detailed report for the Penn State police. In it, she concludes that Sandusky’s actions matched those of a “likely pedophile”:
My consultants agree that the incidents meet all of our definitions, based on experience and education, of a likely pedophile’s pattern of building trust and gradual introduction of physical touch, within a context of a “loving,” “special” relationship. One colleague who has contact with the Second Mile confirms that Mr. Sandusky is reasonably intelligent and thus, could hardly have failed to understand the way his behavior would be interpreted, if known. His position at the Second Mile and his interest in abused boys would suggest that he was likely to have had knowledge with regard to child abuse and might even recognize this behavior as typical pedophile “overture.”
But prosecutors decided not to charge Sandusky. The case was closed for 13 years, until last November, when Sandusky was arrested. He is currently awaiting trial on 52 criminal counts.
In an interview with NBC News, Chambers says she was distraught when police contacted her last year. “I was horrified to know that there were so many other innocent boys who had their hearts and minds confused, their bodies violated,” she said. “It’s unspeakable.”
The memo can be found on docstoc here
Jerry Sandusky Called A ‘Likely Pedophile’ By Psychologist In 1998
[Huffington Post 3/24/12 by Melissa Jeltsen]
A judge overseeing former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky’s child sexual abuse case on Thursday [March 29, 2012] delayed the start of the trial by three weeks to early June, and prosecutors filed a lengthy court document that said the case should not be dismissed.
Judge John Cleland said the additional time was needed “to accommodate various logistical contingencies that have arisen,” and the attorney general’s office supported the postponement.
The prosecution’s 21-page answer to a catch-all pretrial motion that Sandusky’s lawyer submitted a week ago said the commonwealth had “broad latitude” to establish the dates of allegations in child sexual abuse cases. Sandusky has asked for more specifics about when authorities say the crimes occurred.
“Defendant cannot exploit the appalling breadth of his own criminal conduct by claiming it encompasses so long a period as to hamper his defense,” chief deputy attorney general Frank Fina wrote.
The 68-year-old retired defensive coordinator faces 52 counts involving 10 boys over a 15-year period. He remains confined to his home to await trial. Prosecutors have accused him of engaging in a range of illegal behavior with the boys, including sexual assaults, allegations he denies.
Fina disputed Sandusky’s argument that witness Mike McQueary will not be able to prove the charges involving a young boy McQueary said he saw being sexually abused by Sandusky in the Penn State showers in 2002.
“The defense appears to argue that an eyewitness who sees an adult man having sex with a child cannot provide sufficient evidence of the conduct of crimes,” Fina wrote. “It is noteworthy that the defense provides no legal support for such a specious assertion.”
The judge said a hearing remains scheduled for April 5 in Bellefonte to argue over the pretrial issues.
Fina wrote the prosecution agreed with Sandusky’s request to have prospective jurors questioned individually and to sequester them at trial.
In Sandusky’s omnibus pretrial motion last week, defense lawyer Joe Amendola argued some allegations were not sufficiently specific, others lacked evidence and the statute of limitations may have run out in some cases.
Amendola released a statement saying that he’s had only about two months to review “volumes of discovery materials” that he received from prosecutors in mid-January.
“We don’t know if we will have all the information we need and are entitled to receive prior to the new trial date, but we will do our very best to be ready to proceed to trial on June 5th,” he said in an email late Thursday.
Fina noted that Sandusky waived a preliminary hearing that would have allowed him to test some of the evidence against him.
“He cannot now be heard to complain the information is insufficient, having conceded the ability of the commonwealth to prove each count if submitted to a fact-finder,” Fina wrote.
Fina told the judge that prosecutors expect to disclose additional information to the defense as the investigation continues. He asked the judge to allow Amendola to amend the omnibus pretrial motion two weeks after that additional information is received.
The prosecution filing said that a search of Sandusky’s home in June was authorized by a valid warrant and that investigators legally intercepted conversations between Sandusky and two boys, identified as Victim 1 and Victim 9 in court records. They include a seven-minute conversation with Victim 1 in June 2009 and a conversation with Victim 9 about four days after Sandusky was arrested in early November.
“It is denied that the interceptions were in any way illegal or improper,” Fina said. “It is absolutely admitted that the defendant ‘was unaware of and did not consent to the interceptions.'”
Jerry Sandusky abuse trial delayed
[ESPN 3/30/12 by Associated Press]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Recent Comments