Sandusky's Child Sexual Abuse Knowingly Covered Up, Investigation Says

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
7/13/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Graham Spanier and Coach Joe Paterno concealed allegations fearing 'bad publicity'

Top university officials such as former president Graham Spanier and then-head football coach Joe Paterno knowingly concealed allegations of child sexual abuse by ex-assistant coach Jerry Sandusky to "avoid the consequences of bad publicity." That's the result of an investigation into the Penn State scandal that alleges that Sandusky sexually abused 10 boys over a 15-year period.

An investigation into the Penn State scandal alleges that Jerry Sandusky sexually abused 10 boys over a 15-year period -- and Penn State officials neglected to cooperate with authorities.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The investigation claims that Spanier and Paterno, as well as former university vice president Gary Schultz and ex-athletic director Tim Curley, willingly participated in "an active decision to conceal" charges against Sandusky.

Penn State officials were poised to report that the February 2001 sex abuse allegation, where a young boy was assaulted in a shower, that the parties "changed the plan and decided not to make a report to the authorities" after Curley consulted with Paterno, the head of the probe, former FBI Director Louis Freeh.

The 267-page report was released Thursday morning. The report focuses on what school officials knew about Sandusky's behavior. The scandal led some people to claim the school put its reputation ahead of protecting potential child victims.

The 68-year-old Sandusky, the Nittany Lions' former defensive coordinator, was convicted last month on multiple charges of in the sexual abuse of young boys.

"We have said from the beginning that Joe Paterno did not know Jerry Sandusky was a child predator," a statement from the Paterno family read. "Moreover, Joe Paterno never interfered with any investigation. He immediately and accurately reported the incident he was told about in 2001."

Paterno's relatives say that although they will need some time to read the report before they can comment, they accept the criticism that Paterno could have done more, but "at the same time, Joe Paterno and everyone else knew that Sandusky had been repeatedly investigated by authorities who approved his multiple adoptions and foster children."

"Joe Paterno mistakenly believed that investigators, law enforcement officials, University leaders and others would properly and fully investigate any issue and proceed as the facts dictated," Paterno's family said in a statement.

"Joe Paterno wasn't perfect. He made mistakes and he regretted them. He is still the only leader to step forward and say that with the benefit of hindsight he wished he had done more. To think, however, that he would have protected Jerry Sandusky to avoid bad publicity is simply not realistic. If Joe Paterno had understood what Sandusky was, a fear of bad publicity would not have factored into his actions."

The report is unsparing in singling out various parties for their failure to intervene. "These men concealed Sandusky's activities from the Board of Trustees, the University community and authorities. They exhibited a striking lack of empathy for Sandusky's victims by failing to inquire as to their safety and well-being, especially by not attempting to determine the identity of the child who Sandusky assaulted in the Lasch Building in 2001.

"Further, they exposed this child to additional harm by alerting Sandusky, who was the only one who knew the child's identity, of what McQueary saw in the shower on the night of February 9, 2001."

� 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Keywords: Jerry Sandusky, Graham Spanier, Penn State, Joe Paterno, sexual abuse

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1 - 6 of 6 Comments

KarlVDH
11 months ago
Come on. Paterno KNEW. The more info comes out the worse it is. McQueery should be in the cell next to Sandusky... when you SEE a child being raped you don't "go report it," you man up and put yourself between the predator and his prey. You consider nothing else... you SAVE THE KID!! But no. And Paterno... I've always wonderd... would Joe Pa have done anything differently if one of those poor kids were named Joe Paterno III- his grandson? You bet you're behind he would, even at just the SUGGESTION of it... and so SHAME on him for not doing it for ANY kid. Bottom line... Joe Pa helping to cover up this foulness does matter, and it SHOULD matter, and it HA to matter. Know why? because when it was OUR bishops covering up abuses by our Priests, people HOWLED for vindication. So now let's hear it! Is it so different NOW, just because it's a beloved sports figure and not a religius leader? COME ON,. America! Look what we're saying... the people who tried to protect the Church were all but drawn and quartered- and RIGHTLY SO. But when a guy is trying to protect football- a GAME, for God,s sake, and the money it brings in, the country is actually entertaining discussion about whether what Joe did was really all that bad. Football? AWESOME! Religion... not so much. But raped children? Hardly noticed alt all. Tell you what, brothers and sisters- if this happened at Notre Dame, you can BET there'd be calls for blood. At the very least, Penn State needs to permanently remove that statue of Joe Pa from the campus. If not, a statue of Cardinal Law should be erected in Boston. Why not? It's only raped children, right?
Irma
11 months ago
When someone yells FIRE everyone listens, well when the students yelled fire fire no body at the school cared, that is until now.
William Cinfici
11 months ago
I praise Catholic Online for printing both sides of the story, not just the one reported by the liberal media and sports journalists who, instead of reading and understanding the whole report, read only the summary and accepted Freeh's bluster. Freeh's report actually vindicates Paterno on the allegation that he must have know about Sandusky's abuse much earlier because it was supposedly the reason Paterno fired him; the evidence was that Paterno fired him for other reasons. Additionally, it offers slim evidence as a foundation for the innuendo Freeh made that Paterno knew of abuse and covered it up. In fact, Paterno is acknowledged to have reported hearsay about an incident that was not a specific allegation of a crime to the campus police.

It is time we Catholics remind everyone that those most responsible for sexual abuse of minors are the abusers themselves. The next most responsible are the witnesses who fail to report the crime, not people who only hear allegations second hand, such as employers, Bishops, etc. Those who witness a crime, including victims, have a legal duty to report the crime. They must be encouraged to testify under oath. Otherwise, it is reasonable to question the credibility of their allegations. People who are not witnesses should not be expected to act as juries and judge the credibility of hearsay, absent other credible evidence. Indeed, without the complicity of alleged victims who fail to report crimes, there could be no ongoing abuse or allegations of coverups by non-witnesses.
Maudie N Mandeville
11 months ago
Could we please stop defining anal sex by a man on boys as 'child sexual abuse'? Unless Sandusky raped females also, why confuse the issue with the word 'child'. It is 'homosexual rape'. A homosexual serial rapist is not going to prey on 30 year old men for 14 years and not get kicked in the gonads a time or two or have to explain to his wife or to the coach why he has a fat lip, again. A homosexual serial rapist will almost by definition, prey on emotionally and physically weaker boys where he can buy them a Penn St jersey, take them to a few games, gain their trust and rape them. Never in the Catholic priest 'child sexual abuse' scandal was the word 'homosexual' ever used by the liberal effeminate media (nor by Catholic media). Pedophilia was the pc word of choice, obscuring the fact that these were, by and large, homosexual priests raping altar boys. 'Pederasty' would certainly better define what happened in both cases but why use an euphemism to describe evil?
John Mainhart
11 months ago
I have followed this story since it began. I watched the program on ESPN where about 8000 souls, former football players and parents .praised Coach Paterno..repeatedly for those values that this society we have created has long dismissed. The values they mentioned were integrity, fair play, success with honor and a personal attention to the individual....He.would visit each recruit and discuss with his parents the future of their son at Penn State. He was truly a non-system man because each soul in his care was of singular value. ....
.When I read this latest report I was heartbroken. Here is a secularist committee appointed by the system of Penn State who lost their way....They made a serious accusation against a man of integrity. I don't blame the committee because they have been trained to .find the truth in the minutia of the cases before them because the letter of the law is much more important.to them than the spirit of the situation they are studying. This is especially true about this case since the person who is highlighted is not there to.defend himself to those investigating the matter To conclude that a man, who gave his entire life to teaching each soul under his care the importance of values to guide their lives, would defend a system that permits child abuse is unconscionable.
.
This is another serious blow to the search for truth and the importance of values in our society. I hope this unjust decision regarding Joe Paterno make us better and changes the hearts of many more people to God's love for individual souls...Systems without individual consciences could be the death of this once gtreat country.

In all honesty, I think this sad event highlights a serious problem we all need to pray about. This principle of keeping our values out of the public square has done much ,evil in our society. I believe Joe Paterno recognized this so he decided to not be a system man where an individual is required to give up his individual conscience to a system. Please God, we will all defend our individual conscience against evils perpetrated by any system we belong to even if we lose our jobs or houses or anyhing else we value that is of this world
BUD
11 months ago
Too bad he wasn't a public school teacher, a state or federal worker, public school unions, who all have managed to get themselves and their politicians an exemption from lawsuits. What goes on in all of the public school systems is estimated to be 100 times more frequent than what ever happened in the Roman Catholic Church who is the only one denied a statute of limitations which prevents lawsuits going back 70 years. The church has cleaned up it's act but the federal and public systems have not.

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