Penn State Scandal

[dagwave]

living in PA, this story is huge. What a sick situation. The fact that administrators and university leadership was aware of the child molestation/ abuse makes it even more sad. Does the number of victims (8) really tell the whole story (80)????

 

Legacies will be deservedly revised.

 

joepa apparently witnessed one of the offenses involving his coach and a young man. he supposedly reported it to the AD. nothing was ever said. At Sanduskey's retirement dinner, joepa spoke briefly, and left early due to a "previous engagement". not the kind of thing you do for a 20 year employee......

 

My son was strongly considering attending this school next fall. i really hope he rethinks this.....

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

 

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania law requiring some school officials and others to report suspected child abuse does not apply to a Penn State administrator who's accused of keeping quiet about allegations that a former football coach molested a boy in a shower, the administrator's attorney said Sunday.

The comments by Pittsburgh lawyer Thomas J. Farrell offer a preview of the defense he plans to use on the charge of failing to report faced by his client, Gary C. Schultz, the university's senior vice president for finance and business. Farrell said he will seek to have the charge dismissed.

The charge is part of a broader case centered on retired Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who is accused of sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years. Schultz, 62, and Penn State athletic director Tim Curley, 57, were both charged Saturday with failing to report to state and county officials that a witness told them he saw Sandusky sexually abusing a naked boy in the showers of a team practice facility in 2002.

Schultz and Curley were both also charged with perjury. Lawyers for all three men say they are innocent.

Farrell told The Associated Press on Sunday that the mandated reporting rules only apply to people who come into direct contact with children. He also said the statute of limitations for the summary offense with which Schultz is charged is two years, so it expired in 2004.

The explosive charges are surprising both for what they detail and their contrast to the image of Penn State's football program. Under the leadership of Joe Paterno, who's won more games than any coach in Division I history, the Nittany Lions have become a bedrock in the college game. For more than four decades, Paterno's teams have been revered both for winning, including two national championships, and largely steering clear of trouble.

Paterno is not implicated in the case.

"Joe Paterno was a witness who cooperated and testified before the grand jury," said Nils Frederiksen, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office. "He's not a suspect."

Frederiksen called questions about whether Paterno might testify premature and speculation.

"That's putting the cart way ahead of the horse," he said. "We're certainly not going to be discussing the lineup of potential witnesses."

In a statement on Sunday, Paterno said that, if true, the "nature" and number of charges made "are very shocking to me and all Penn Staters."

"While I did what I was supposed to do with the one charge brought to my attention, like anyone else involved I can't help but be deeply saddened these matters are alleged to have occurred," he said.

The grand jury report that lays out the accusations against the men cites the state's Child Protective Services Law, which requires immediate reporting by doctors, nurses, school administrators, teachers, day care workers, police and others.

Neither Schultz nor Curley appear to have had direct contact with the boys Sandusky is accused of abusing, including the one involved in the eyewitness account prosecutors say they were given. Prosecutors say Sandusky encountered victims through The Second Mile, a charity he founded for at-risk children.

The two school administrators fielded the complaint from an unnamed graduate assistant, and from Paterno. Two people familiar with the investigation confirmed the identity of the graduate assistant as Mike McQueary, now the team's wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator. The two spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the names in the grand jury report have not been publicly released.

McQueary was out of town on a recruiting trip Sunday, according to his father, John McQueary, who declined to comment about the case or say whether they are the two named in the grand jury report.

The law "applies only to children under the care and supervision of the organization for which he works, and that's Penn State, it's not The Second Mile," Farrell said of his client. "This child, from what we know, was a Second Mile child."

Messages left later Sunday seeking comment from Frederiksen with the attorney general's office, and from Curley's lawyer, Caroline Roberto, were not immediately returned. Farrell said it was accurate to say the allegations against Curley are legally flawed in the same manner.

Farrell said he plans to seek dismissal at the earliest opportunity. Both Schultz and Curley are scheduled to turn themselves in at a district judge's office in Harrisburg on Monday.

"Now, tomorrow is probably not the appropriate time," Farrell said. "We'll bring every legal challenge that is appropriate, and I think quite a few are appropriate."

As a summary offense, failure to report suspected child abuse carries up to three months in jail and a $200 fine.

"As far as my research shows, there has never been a reported criminal decision under this statute, and the civil decisions go our way," he said.

Curley and Schultz met with the graduate assistant about a week and a half after the alleged attack, Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly said Saturday. There is no indication that anyone at school attempted to find the boy or follow up with the witness, she said.

"Despite a powerful eyewitness statement about the sexual assault of a child, this incident was not reported to any law enforcement or child protective agency, as required by Pennsylvania law," Kelly said.

The allegations mirror the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic church, albeit on a smaller and narrower scale. As in the church's case, authorities say high-ranking figures were given details about instances of sex abuse and failed to share them with law enforcement or child-welfare agencies.

Curley and Schultz also are accused of perjury for their testimony to the grand jury that issued a 23-page report on the matter Friday, the day before state prosecutors charged them. Sandusky was arrested Saturday and charged with 40 criminal counts.

Curley denied that the assistant had reported anything of a sexual nature, calling it "merely 'horsing around,'" the grand jury report said. But he also testified that he barred Sandusky from bringing children onto campus and that he advised Penn State President Graham Spanier of the matter.

The grand jury said Curley was lying, Kelly said, adding that it also deemed portions of Schultz's testimony not to be credible.

Schultz told the jurors he also knew of a 1998 investigation involving sexually inappropriate behavior by Sandusky with a boy in the showers the football team used.

But despite his job overseeing campus police, he never reported the 2002 allegations to any authorities, "never sought or received a police report on the 1998 incident and never attempted to learn the identity of the child in the shower in 2002," the jurors wrote. "No one from the university did so."

Farrell said Schultz "should have been required only to report it to his supervisor, which he did."

Schultz reports to Penn State president Graham Spanier, who testified before the grand jury that Schultz and Curley came to him with a report that a staff member was uncomfortable because he'd seen Sandusky "horsing around" with a boy. Spanier was not charged.

About the perjury charge, Farrell said: "We're going to have a lot of issues with that, both factual and legal. I think there's a very strong defense here."

The university is paying legal costs for Curley and Schultz because the allegations against them concern how they fulfilled their responsibilities as employees, spokeswoman Lisa Powers said.

 

So...he's not responsible for not reporting it because HE WASN'T REQUIRED TO BY LAW.

 

Wow. Sleazy. Unethical. Immoral.

[Sir Stewart]

living in PA, this story is huge. What a sick situation. The fact that administrators and university leadership was aware of the child molestation/ abuse makes it even more sad. Does the number of victims (8) really tell the whole story (80)????

 

Legacies will be deservedly revised.

 

joepa apparently witnessed one of the offenses involving his coach and a young man. he supposedly reported it to the AD. nothing was ever said. At Sanduskey's retirement dinner, joepa spoke briefly, and left early due to a "previous engagement". not the kind of thing you do for a 20 year employee......

 

My son was strongly considering attending this school next fall. i really hope he rethinks this.....

 

Whoa - let's be factual here, particularly since there's enough nastiness in the facts. Joe Paterno did not witness anything. He was approached by a witness who saw Sandusky with a boy in the football showers, and he in turn forwarded that info to his Athletic Director. Which is a questionable move in my book, especially since he didn't seem to follow up on it even when the AD did nothing about it.

[bleedorange]

Whoa - let's be factual here, particularly since there's enough nastiness in the facts. Joe Paterno did not witness anything. He was approached by a witness who saw Sandusky with a boy in the football showers, and he in turn forwarded that info to his Athletic Director. Which is a questionable move in my book, especially since he didn't seem to follow up on it even when the AD did nothing about it.

 

And, after knowing about it, he still allowed Sandusky to visit the facilities with young boys from his foundation.

[Sir Stewart]

So much nastiness. One of the more disturbing elements (for me personally) is that Gary Schultz, the former head of campus police, who was indicted over the weekend for basically keeping the whole thing on the down low, has a daycare center named after him, which my daughter attends. Yuck.

[dagwave]

Joe Paterno did not witness anything. He was approached by a witness who saw Sandusky with a boy in the football showers, and he in turn forwarded that info to his Athletic Director. Which is a questionable move in my book, especially since he didn't seem to follow up on it even when the AD did nothing about it.

 

correct. my bad.

[remphish1]

I went to Penn State 1998-2002. I met Joe and Graham Spanier while there two who are a big part of this case. It disgusts me and is very upsetting that this went on for so long without anything being done. Not sure what the right course of actions is but anyone who didn't persue this further needs to be held accountable. I would have expected more from a school that made me very proud.

 

Update...Supposedly Joe is on his way out?

http://www.nytimes.c...tml?_r=3&src=tp

[Guest Jules]

The right course of action is to kill all involved. Paterno too.

[Sir Stewart]

Does that include me?

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

What I find most distasteful in the statements from the Penn State officials (including JoPa) is that they fufilled their LEGAL obligations.

 

Too many people too concerned about losing money and prestige for a football program.

[remphish1]

What I find most distasteful in the statements from the Penn State officials (including JoPa) is that they fufilled their LEGAL obligations.

 

Too many people too concerned about losing money and prestige for a football program.

 

Good point..I think all the officals know that jail is a possibility and they are trying to cover themselves...I hear what you are saying though

[Guest Jules]

Does that include me?

No. And maybe death is too strong, but they should be fired immediately.

[ih8music]

The decision to keep things covered up came from the top; and that's Paterno. He's clearly got to go.

 

The graduate assistant (McQueary) who witnessed the actual abuse in 2002 and never contacted police should also step down. Too many people worried about protecting the program and not offending King Paterno here.

 

I tried reading the grand jury's report but couldn't make it past the first couple of pages. Disgusting stuff, on par with the Catholic Church's many scandals.

[Guest Jules]

I read the whole thing and it's horrible. Forget "stepping down" or "exit strategies". Fire them now.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Pennsylvania state police Commissioner Frank Noonan said Monday in Harrisburg that Paterno fulfilled his legal requirement when he relayed to university administrators that a graduate assistant had seen Sandusky attacking a young boy in the team's locker room shower in 2002. But the commissioner also questioned whether Paterno had a moral responsibility to do more.

"Somebody has to question about what I would consider the moral requirements for a human being that knows of sexual things that are taking place with a child," Noonan said.

"I think you have the moral responsibility, anyone. Not whether you're a football coach or a university president or the guy sweeping the building. I think you have a moral responsibility to call us."

[bleedorange]

It's just hard to believe that the university has not taken swifter action regarding this. Anyone and everyone who knew about it and then allowed it to continue should be gone by now. It's sickening.

[Guest Jules]

yes

[sonicshoulder]

I read the whole thing and it's horrible. Forget "stepping down" or "exit strategies". Fire them now.

 

Seriously. This is turning your head to child abuse. I dont give a fuck how many wins you have. As a sports fan I've always loved Paterno but he has to go. This is no different than a non-mollesting Catholic preist(oxymoron perhaps) turning his head while another one is feelin up the altar boy. Legalities aside its morally unacceptable, lovable Columbo looking legend or not.

[Sir Stewart]

I watched video of the show of support outside JoPa's house last night ("We love you Joe!" "I love you too") with mixed emotions: the guy should by any standard be fired by now, yet he's also an 84 year-old whose positive contributions to the community of Happy Valley cannot be denied. At the very least he made a serious slip in judgement that he should pay for, but he's also a tired old man who looked genuinely moved by the support.

[calvino]

I didn't see the video, but I agree with you SirStew, he definitely needs to go and I have mixed emotions how his legacy should be played out.

 

I wonder how much actual "game time" coaching Paterno's has done this year. Every game I have watched he seems to just watching it up in the booth with out any headphones or anything - I realize he has health issue that prevent him to be on the side line - but at least put on set of head phones.

 

 

Below is Rick Telander's view. Obviously, he has been a critic of the "big business" of NCAA sports.

 

Is this finally enough to get us to stop the cult of coach worshipping?

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/8697102-419/penn-state-scandal-is-much-bigger-than-school-coach.html

[The High Heat]

I watched video of the show of support outside JoPa's house last night ("We love you Joe!" "I love you too") with mixed emotions: the guy should by any standard be fired by now, yet he's also an 84 year-old whose positive contributions to the community of Happy Valley cannot be denied. At the very least he made a serious slip in judgement that he should pay for, but he's also a tired old man who looked genuinely moved by the support.

Very true. At this point he's going to be hounded into retirement, being stuck between his supporters, his critics and his own personal failure to follow through on discovering the truthfulness of the allegations that were made. He has a commitment to his young athletes, and while that's important, it doesn't override his responsibility to protect the young boys who were in the care of his friend and former coach when he had information that he was molesting and raping them. This a very serious failure no matter how much he trusted the university to handle the situation. He's old enough to know better. That being said, will he be forced to step down now or will he be allowed to complete the season before moving on?

[The High Heat]

http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Official_Tells_AP_That_Support_For_Paterno_Eroding_133464683.html

 

In checking the news, I just got my answer. He's retiring after the season.

[Oil Can Boyd]

That being said, will he be forced to step down now or will he be allowed to complete the season before moving on?

Looks like he'll retire at the end of the season:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7211281/penn-state-nittany-lions-joe-paterno-retire-end-season

[Winston Legthigh]

Strange related story...

[Sir Stewart]

Strange related story...

 

Yup, Gricar's disappearance had to come up at some point. The connection has been on peoples' minds around here since Sandusky's arrest. No matter what the connection, the press will soon be running with it.