Posts Tagged ‘Freeh Report’

Phil Knight: The Freeh report findings are ‘unjustified and unsubstantiated’

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Phil Knight spoke out Monday morning against the Freeh report and re-aligning his support with the Paterno camp. (Craig Mitchelldyer/Getty Images)

Phil Knight spoke out Monday morning against the Freeh report, re-aligning his support with the Paterno camp. (Craig Mitchelldyer/Getty Images)

Nike co-founder Phil Knight is reversing his opinion on the Freeh report findings and Joe Paterno. Knight said in a statement Monday morning that after reviewing the findings by the law firm hired by the Paterno family.

“With the release of the report by the King and Spalding law firm, including analysis by former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and former FBI profiler James Clemente, it is clear that the findings of the Freeh Report were unjustified and unsubstantiated,” said Knight in a statement Monday. “When this tragic story first unfolded Joe cautioned all of us to slow down and carefully gather the facts before jumping to conclusions. We owed it to the victims, he said, to get to the truth. It was counsel we all should have followed.”

Back in July, Knight responded to the Freeh report by saying Joe Paterno “made missteps” that disappointed him:

“According to the investigation, it appears Joe made missteps that led to heartbreaking consequences,” Knight said. “I missed that Joe missed it, and I’m extremely saddened on this day.”

However, on Monday morning Knight admitted he made those comments without reading the Freeh report in its entirety. The King and Spalding law firm and former attorney general Dick Thornburgh cited the Freeh report as a “failure,” filled with errors, disputed allegations, personal opinions, unsubstantiated theories and bias.

Since reading the Freeh report and the findings from the law firm, Knight has retracted his original judgment against Paterno. Knight concluded his statement by putting the Paterno side of the scandal into perspective.

And while some may still debate the who, what, when, where, why of this sad case, the clear villain, as Jim Clemente notes, is Jerry Sandusky himself.


  • Published On Feb 11, 2013
  • Jerry Sandusky claims innocence on eve of sentencing hearing

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    Jerry Sandusky proclaimed innocence in an audio statement released Monday night. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

    Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant coach found guilty on 45 counts of child sexual abuse in June, released an audio statement proclaiming his innocence on the eve of his sentencing hearing.

    In the statement, which was provided to Penn State’s ComRadio and has been confirmed by multiple outlets, including Yahoo, Sandusky says he did not have a “fair opportunity to prepare for trial” and asks listeners to “think about the unfairness” inflicted upon him.

    Here’s an excerpt of Sandusky’s statement, via Pennsylvania’s CBS 21:

    “Why didn’t we have a fair opportunity to prepare for trial? Why have so many people suffered as a result of false allegations? What’s the purpose? Maybe it will help others; some vulnerable children who could be abused, might not be because of all the publicity. [...]

    In my heart, I know I did not do these alleged disgusting acts. My wife has been my only sex partner that was after marriage. Our love continues.

    A young man who was dramatic a veteran accuser, and always sought attention, started everything. He was joined by a well-orchestrated effort of the media, investigators, the system, Penn State, psychologists, civil attorneys and other accusers.

    They won. I’ve wondered what they really won: Attention, financial gain, prestige… will all be temporary. Before you blame me, as others have, look at everything and everybody. [...]

    We didn’t lose the proven facts, evidence, accurate locations and times. Anything can be said. We lost to speculation and stories that were influenced by people who wanted to convict me. [...]

    It will take others: somebody apolitical with the courage to listen, to think about the unfairness, to have the guts to stand up and take the road less traveled. I ask for the strength to handle everything and willingness to surrender only to God, regardless of the outcome.”

    Sandusky is set to be sentenced at a Tuesday hearing, where he is expected to again declare his innocence. Because of the extensive number of severity of the convictions, it’s likely that Sandusky will be sentenced to life in prison. One of his defense lawyers told The Associated Press on Monday that the best the defense could hope for would likely be a minimum of 30 years.


  • Published On Oct 09, 2012
  • Two Penn State trustees agree with Graham Spanier’s jabs at Freeh Report

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    At least two Penn State trustees are critical of Freeh Report. (Williams Thomas Cain/Getty Images)

    At least two Penn State trustees agree with former university president Graham Spanier’s attorneys’ challenge of the Freeh Report.

    Jan Murphy of The Patriot-News reports:

    None of them are ready to accept the findings by former FBI director Louis Freeh that insisted Spanier, former football coach Joe Paterno, athletic director on leave Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz covered up a report of a child molestation to protect the university’s reputation.

    Recently elected trustee Anthony Lubrano said following the news conference called by attorney Timothy Lewis in Philadelphia, “I have said that the conclusions reached by Louis Freeh are based on facts not in evidence so I don’t agree with his conclusions. Today we heard from Judge Lewis and Spanier’s counsel that apparently they don’t agree with the conclusions either.”

    He noted that despite the NCAA sanctions and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s accreditation warning that was based on the Freeh report’s conclusions, “the board has never accepted the findings of the Freeh report.”

    Also at the news conference, which Spanier did not attend, was longtime trustee Al Clemens, who agreed that Lewis’ comments further shake his confidence in the Freeh report. He said that report based a lot of its conclusions on two email series that seemed to implicate Spanier, Paterno, Schultz and Curley in a cover-up.

    “There’s a lot more to come out about this. The Freeh report I think is questionable in a lot of areas,” Clemens said.


  • Published On Aug 22, 2012
  • Penn State appeal: Trustees prepared for federal lawsuit over NCAA sanctions

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    Some Penn State trustees will appeal the NCAA’s sanctions against the university and, if the appeal is unsuccessful, plan to file a federal lawsuit, reports ESPN.com’s Don Van Netta Jr.

    Van Netta reports that “at least two” trustees are ready to appeal because the NCAA “did not give the school due process in meting out its punishment.” He also reports the trustees expect to lose their appeal with the NCAA.

    One of the newest Board members, retired Navy SEAL Ryan J. McCombie, is leading the effort and has retained an attorney to file the appeal, according to the ESPN report. In a letter to his fellow trustees, a copy of which was attained by ESPN, McCombie reportedly wrote, “I know my actions will be poorly received by some on this board and in the community at large. To that end it would be easier to remain silent and allow these unfair actions to remain unchallenged. I cannot do this.”

    The NCAA broke with its normal enforcement process in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal, giving president Mark Emmert the authority to deliver the punishment.

    Penn State president Rodney Erickson signed a consent decree in which he agreed to the penalties, which included a four-year postseason ban, $60 million fine and scholarship losses. Penn State also vacated all of its wins from 1998 to 2011.  The school reportedly faced a four-year “death penalty” but was able to avoid that sanction.

    McCombie reportedly believes that Erickson did not have the authority to accept the penalties without a vote by the Board of Trustees.

    Joe Paterno’s family last week tried to appeal the penalties but an NCAA spokesman said, “The Penn State sanctions are not subject to appeal.”


  • Published On Aug 06, 2012
  • Report: Freeh Group member finds fault in NCAA’s use of report

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    Mark Emmert and the NCAA used the Freeh report in sanctioning Penn State because it was “vastly” thorough. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

    The 267-page document that was relied heavily upon by the NCAA in sanctioning Penn State football was never intended to use as justification for punishment, a member of the group that cultivated it said recently.

    In a report by the Chronicle of Higher Education, a member of the Freeh Group said the document was not “meant to be used as the sole piece, or the large piece, of the NCAA’s decision-making.”

    Penn State received a $60 million fine, four-year postseason ban, reduction of scholarships and vacation of wins from 1998-2011. NCAA President Mark Emmert said the organization relied on the report because it was “vastly more involved and thorough than any investigation we’ve ever conducted.”

    The report, commissioned by PSU’s Board of Trustees, was led by former FBI Director Louis Freeh. His team conducted more than 400 interviews and looked through more than 3 million documents before releasing the report earlier in the month.

    “The Freeh team reviewed how Penn State operated, not how they worked within the NCAA’s system,” this person said. “The NCAA’s job is to investigate whether Penn State broke its rules and whether it gained a competitive advantage in doing so.”

     


  • Published On Jul 27, 2012
  • NCAA fines Penn State $60 million, institutes four-year postseason ban

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    Joe Paterno has been stripped of 111 wins, taking him from first on the all-time list of winningest NCAA football coaches to 12th. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

    In the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, the NCAA has levied a $60 million fine on Penn State University on Monday as well as banning the team from the postseason for four years.

    Along with the fine and postseason ban, the school must vacate all wins from 1998-2011, and scholarships will drop from 25 to 15 per year. The school will have a cap on scholarships at 65.

    The school will be on probation for five years. The NCAA will have the power to continue investigating and impose further sanctions on individuals during that time.

    “Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said at Monday’s press conference.

    Along with the NCAA penalties, the Big Ten will give Penn State’s $13 million share of the conference bowl revenue over four years to charitable organizations focused on preventing child abuse.

    Emmert said the fine is the amount of one year of the football program’s gross revenue. The money from the fine will go to “support programs around the nation that serve the victims of child sexual abuse and seek to prevent such abuse from happening.”

    Penn State was not handed the “death penalty,” which would have suspended play for one season. Emmert declined to say he considered these penalties worse than the death penalty.

    “If the death penalty were to be opposed … the executive committee and I would not have agreed to just the death penalty,” Emmert said. “It would have been other penalties as well.”

    Penn State signed a consent decree with the NCAA and will not appeal the penalties.

    WATCH: NCAA president Mark Emmert announces the sanctions levied against Penn State

    With the vacated wins, former head coach Joe Paterno is no longer the most winningest head coach in NCAA football history. Of his 409 victories, Paterno has been stripped of 111 wins, putting him 12th on the all-time list with 298.

    Bobby Bowden now becomes major college football’s wins leader while Eddie Robinson reclaims his position as the most winningest head coach in Division-I history.

    The vacated wins date back to 1998, when the Freeh report shows leaders at Penn State were notified of Sandusky’s actions. The Freeh report states that leaders–including the president, vice president, athletic director and head football coach–did not act appropriately when they were alerted of possible child sexual abuse with the assistant head coach. Emmert referred to those violations as “perverse and unconscionable” on Monday.

    In an effort to soften the penalties for current Penn State student-athletes, the NCAA is considering allowing a scholarship waiver for schools accepting future Penn State transfers. Also, the fine money cannot be drawn from non-revenue sports and will be paid in $12 million installments over a five-year period to an endowment for programs preventing child sexual abuse or assisting victims.

    “It is important to know we are entering a new chapter at Penn State and making necessary changes,” Penn State President Rodney Erickson said in a statement. “We must create a culture in which people are not afraid to speak up, management is not compartmentalized, all are expected to demonstrate the highest ethical standards, and the operating philosophy is open, collegial, and collaborative.”

    Penn State football coach Bill O’Brien is signed to a five-year deal. In a statement Monday, he reiterated his commitment to the university.

    “ I knew when I accepted the position that there would be tough times ahead,” O’Brien said. “But I am committed for the long term to Penn State and our student athletes.”

    Combining the bowl share with the fine, Penn State has been penalized $73 million. According to the Central Penn Business Journal, that’s the amount of revenue the football program generated in 2010.


  • Published On Jul 23, 2012
  • NCAA President Mark Emmert won’t rule out death penalty for Penn State

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    NCAA President Mark Emmert said in an interview with PBS’s Tavis Smiley that he will not rule out the death penalty for Penn State’s football program in the wake of the Freeh Report’s findings that members of the administration and athletic department, including legendary coach Joe Paterno, “failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade.” Long-time defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts in connection to sexual abuse that sometimes took place within the Penn State locker room and showers.

    The death penalty, which bans a school from competing in a sport for at least one season, has only been implemented on one major college football program, SMU in 1987 and 1988.

    “I’ve never seen anything as egregious as this in terms of overall conduct and behavior inside of a university,” Emmert told Smiley about the situation at Penn State. “I hope never to see it again. What the appropriate penalties are, if there are determinations of violations, we’ll have to decide…

    “I don’t want to take anything off the table. The fact is, this is completely different than an impermissible benefits scandal that happened at SMU or anything else we’ve dealt with. This is as systemic a cultural problem as it is a football problem.

    “There have been people who’ve said this wasn’t a football scandal. Well, it was more than a football scandal. Much more than a football scandal. It was that, and much more. We’ll have to figure out exactly what the right penalties are. I don’t know that past precedent makes particularly good sense in this case because it’s really an unprecedented problem.”

    The repercussions of the penalty were severe for SMU. Once one of the top programs in college football, the school only recently became competitive again. The Mustangs had a winning record in only one of the first 20 seasons after returning from the death penalty, before finishing at or above .500 in the past three seasons.

    Because of the long-term damage to the program, many believe the NCAA would hesitate to use the death penalty again. But Emmert rejected that rationale.

    “Again, I don’t want to prejudge where we will wind up with penalties, but right now is a very special moment in the history of the NCAA,” Emmert said. “There’s an enormous amount of political courage… to do the right thing on a variety of cases, and we’ve been demonstrating that again and again on a variety of cases. Whatever penalty structure is put in place again, if there’s findings of violations of our rules, the decisions will not be based upon whether people want to be courageous or not.”


  • Published On Jul 17, 2012
  • Penn State scandal report: Three new men allege Sandusky abuse in ’70s, ’80s

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    Three new men have reportedly come forward to allege abuse by Jerry Sandusky as early as the 1970s. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

    Three new men have emerged and told police that former Penn State football coach and convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky sexually abused them as far back as the 1970s and ’80s, The Patriot-News‘ Sara Ganim reported on Monday. They are the first men to have alleged abuse before 1990. From Ganim’s report:

    They are the first men to allege abuse before the 1990s, and if found to be credible, would directly attack the 68-year-old’s defense argument that a person doesn’t become [a] pedophile in his or her 50s.

    In the early 1970s, when one of the men says he was abused, Jerry Sandusky would have been in his late 20s.

    Ganim reported that it’s unclear if the men had any interaction with former FBI director Louis Freeh or his team, which produced a scathing report last week that came down hard on Penn State’s administration and the late head coach Joe Paterno. Ganim notes that Freeh does not mention any victims before 1990 in his report, but that he did acknowledge that he “looked for” victims prior to that decade.

    Sandusky was convicted in June on 45 counts of sexual abuse against 10 victims. All of the convictions came from abuse between 1994 and 2009.


  • Published On Jul 17, 2012
  • Boston Red Sox tell Bill James to stop commenting on Joe Paterno

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    Boston Red Sox senior advisor Bill James drew attention over the weekend — almost all of it negative — for his comments defending late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno on the heels of the Freeh Report’s findings that Paterno and members of the Penn State administration had “failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade.”

    The Red Sox today publicly separated themselves from James’ views and asked him to stop speaking about the issue.

    In a press release, the team said:

    “This afternoon, Red Sox Principal Owner John Henry and Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington spoke to Bill James regarding him making public his personal opinions on Joe Paterno.

    In that call, Mr. James was informed that his comments in no way reflect the opinions or positions of the Red Sox; and, because he is perceived as a representative of the Red Sox, he was asked to refrain from any further public comments on this matter.”

    James, who helped start the sabermetrics revolution that led to a more statistically driven analysis of baseball, had said in an interview with ESPN Radio’s Doug Gotlieb that Paterno was receiving too much blame for his role in the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Sandusky was the long-time defensive coordinator under Paterno.

    “It’s very hard, in fact it’s impossible, to explain why Paterno should have been the person to go to the police,” James told Gotlieb. “Paterno didn’t see anything. Paterno was not the reporting authority. Sandusky did not work for Paterno. Paterno had no supervisory authority over Sandusky. It’s extremely difficult to explain why it was Paterno’s responsibility to go to the police. He knew less about it than anyone else there.”

    …”You’re saying everything revolves around (Paterno). It’s total nonsense,” James said. “He had very few allies. He was isolated and he was not nearly as powerful as people imagine him to have been.”


  • Published On Jul 16, 2012
  • Report: Paterno family to commission a review of Freeh report findings

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    The Freeh report concluded Joe Paterno lied about his knowledge of Jerry Sandusky’s activities. His family wants to prove the report wrong. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

    The Freeh report didn’t paint the late Joe Paterno in a positive light, and now his family wants to conduct a review of its own regarding the facts presented in the report.

    According to ESPN.com’s Don Van Natta Jr., the Paterno family has instructed its lawyer, Wick Sollers, to gather a group of experts to review the facts and conclusions drawn by former FBI director Louis Freeh and his team in the Freeh report.

    “We are dismayed by, and vehemently disagree with, some of the conclusions and assertions and the process by which they were developed by the Freeh Group,” Sollers said in a statement Monday. “Mr. Freeh presented his opinions and interpretations as if they were absolute facts. We believe numerous issues in the report, and his commentary, bear further review.”

    The Freeh Group interviewed more than 430 people during the course of seven months. They also investigated more than three million documents and emails. On Thursday, the 267-page report was released, and it showed Paterno, among other things, had lied about his knowledge of a 1998 investigation into Jerry Sandusky.

    The Paterno family adamantly disagrees with the notion that the legendary head coach participated in a coverup to hide bad publicity, as the report states.

    “It can certainly be asserted that Joe Paterno could have done more,” Sellers said. “He acknowledged this himself last fall. But to claim that he knowingly, intentionally protected a pedophile is false.”


  • Published On Jul 16, 2012
  • Penn State: No decision on removal of Joe Paterno statue

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    Penn State said it has not made a decision on whether to remove the Joe Paterno statue at Beaver Stadium. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

    Penn State released an official statement Sunday night saying that neither its Board of Trustees or administration had come to a decision on whether to remove the statue of former head coach Joe Paterno at Beaver Stadium.

    “Contrary to various reports, neither the Board of Trustees nor University Administration has taken a vote or made a decision regarding the Joe Paterno statue at Beaver Stadium,” the statement reads.

    The university was responding to an ESPN report earlier Sunday that, citing sources with firsthand knowledge of the trustees’ deliberations, said that the university had decided to let the statue stand.

    The perception of Paterno’s involvement in the Jerry Sandusky scandal swung in recent days. First came a report from former FBI director Louis Freeh, which purported that Paterno had an active role in concealing Sandusky’s child abuse. SI’s Michael McCann reported on the scorn Paterno received in the Freeh report:

    Paterno received particular scorn in the report, which alleges that he actively discouraged Penn State officials from reporting Sandusky to law enforcement. Freeh’s report also implies that Paterno perjured himself while testifying before the Sandusky grand jury. In his testimony, Paterno claimed to only know about the 2001 shower incident purportedly witnessed by graduate assistant Mike McQueary. Freeh’s report says that Paterno also knew about the 1998 investigation.

    Then on Saturday, The New York Times reported that Paterno began negotiations to sweeten his retirement deal in January 2011, the same month that he testified before a grand jury about Sandusky’s abuse. Members of the Board of Trustees were not aware of the new contract before the scandal hit the university in November.

    Still, ESPN reported that the Board of Trustees was prepared to let the statue stand at least temporarily, for fear of “offending alumni and students who adore the late coach.”

    “You can’t let people stampede you into making a rash decision,” a trustee told the website. “The statue represents the good that Joe did. It doesn’t represent the bad that he did.”


  • Published On Jul 16, 2012
  • Report: TVs at PSU student center changed channel before Freeh report

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    Just as the Freeh Report was released Thursday morning at 9 a.m., students who were gathered in Penn State’s student center were shocked when the channel on several televisions changed to public access.

    According to Melissa Dribben of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the TVs in the HUB-Robeson Center Facility, where a handful of students were gathered, were changed from CNN to a public access channel reporting about the state budget.

    Several students went to speak with a student working at the main desk at the student center. But the student said a university employee was in charge of what is broadcast. That person, the student said, was in a meeting and could not be reached.

    The Freeh Report is the seven-month long independent investigation into the Penn State child abuse scandal. The investigation was led by former FBI director Louis Freeh, and the findings of the report were made public Thursday morning.


  • Published On Jul 12, 2012
  • Freeh Report: Two janitors saw Sandusky abuse but feared for jobs

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    A year before Mike McQueary saw Jerry Sandusky abusing a child in a Penn State locker room shower, two janitors witnessed similar events but failed to alert authorities.

    In the Freeh Report, the independent investigation into the Penn State child abuse scandal, one janitor saw Sandusky sexually abusing a child in the fall of 2000, but decided against reporting the incident to proper authorities because he believed Penn State would “get rid of us all.”

    Janitor B explained to the Special Investigative Counsel that reporting the incident “would have been like going against the President of the United States in my eyes.” “I know Paterno has so much power, if he wanted to get rid of someone, I would have been gone.” He explained “football runs this University,” and said the University would have closed ranked to protect the football program at all costs.

    Janitor A witnessed the sexual abuse. A veteran of the Korean War, he said he had seen lots of things, but that he would never be able to forget what he saw in the shower.

    Janitor B saw two pairs of feet in the same shower later that night, but did not see the upper bodies. Later he saw Sandusky and a young boy exit the locker room holding hands.

    Later that evening, the two janitors saw Sandusky in the parking lot of the locker room looking into windows around 11 p.m. and again at 2 a.m. They presumed Sandusky had returned to see if authorities had been alerted.

    Sandusky had been regularly observed showering with youths before this 2000 incident, according to the Freeh Report.


  • Published On Jul 12, 2012
  • Freeh Report: Sandusky wanted a youth football camp as part of retirement

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    Along with a $20,000 yearly annuity and a one-time lump sum payment of $168,000, Jerry Sandusky wanted to run a middle school youth football camp tied into Penn State football as part of his retirement.

    According to the Freeh Report, the request came amid an investigation into an allegation that Sandusky had inappropriate contact with a young boy in a shower in May of 1998. Ultimately, that investigation yielded no charges for Sandusky.

    Sandusky, who had put in nearly three decades as an assistant football coach at Penn State, knew that he would not become the next head coach and asked to have an “active involvement in developing an outreach program featuring Penn State athletes.”

    The Freeh Report also includes a handwritten note, apparently written by former head coach Joe Paterno, that states: “Volunteer Position Director – Positive Action for Youth.”

    Sandusky was also granted an emeritus title from Penn State. Though his titles were not eligible for emeritus rank, he was granted the title anyway upon the apparent request of then-vice president Gary Schultz’s office.

    The emeritus title grants those with it special privileges, including access to Penn State recreational facilities.


  • Published On Jul 12, 2012
  • Freeh Report: Sandusky saw Paterno break wins record days before arrest

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    According to the Freeh Report, while a federal investigation was ongoing into child abuse allegations, Jerry Sandusky went to Beaver Stadium and sat in club seats on Oct. 29, 2011 and witnessed Joe Paterno break the all-time wins record in Division-I football.

    Sandusky would be indicted on Nov. 4 and arrested the following day on several charges of child abuse.

    The Freeh Report, the independent investigation into the Penn State child abuse scandal, states that Sandusky watched the game from the Nittany Lion Club as Paterno and Penn State defeated Illinois 10-7 for Paterno’s 409th victory.

    Sandusky had retained access to the club seats since his 1999 retirement. But in July 2011, then-athletic director Tim Curley deleted Sandusky’s name from the annual invitation list.

    The report goes on to state Sandusky’s wife called the Nittany Lion Club staff in September, and upon her request Curley reserved his previous decision. Sandusky would attend six home games that season, the report states.

    After his arrest, Sandusky called the Nittany Lion Club and said that he would not attend the last game of the 2011 season.


  • Published On Jul 12, 2012
  • Freeh Report: Sandusky regularly observed showering with youths before 1998

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    Before the first investigation into child abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky in 1998, several staff members and football coaches had seen the former assistant coach showering with boys in the Penn State locker room.

    According to the Freeh Report, the independent investigation in the Penn State child abuse scandal, none of the individuals interviewed about what they saw prior to 1998 went to authorities.

    In May 1998, police were alerted to an allegation that Sandusky had sexual assaulted a child in the Lasch Building (the East Area locker room) at Penn State.

    Leaders at Penn State, including the former president, vice president, athletic director and head football coach, were kept informed of the investigation though never told the Board of Trustees. Vice president Gary Schultz asked in an email “Is this the opening of pandora’s box? Other children?”

    Ultimately, no charges were filed against Sandusky, and he was allowed to retire from Penn State football in 1999 after nearly three decades as an assistant.

    President Graham Spanier, Schultz, athletic director Tim Curley and head coach Joe Paterno never spoke to Sandusky after the 1998 incident, the report states.


  • Published On Jul 12, 2012
  • Freeh Report: Allowing Sandusky to retire in 1999 let him groom future victims

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    The Freeh Report is unequivocal on the senior leaders at Penn State bearing the brunt of the blame for child abuse committed by Jerry Sandusky after 1998.

    The report, released Thursday morning, states former PSU President Graham Spanier, former vice president Gary Schultz, former athletic director Tim Curley and former head coach Joe Paterno “failed to protect against a child sex predator harming children for over a decade.”

    Additionally, the report states the men concealed pertinent information regarding Sandusky’s activities from the Board of Trustees, the PSU community and authorities.

    Despite knowing about the 1998 investigation into Sandusky, Penn State allowed the assistant coach to retire in 1999 as a “valued member of the Penn State football legacy.” That left the door open for continued child abuse, the report states.

    …with future “visibility” at Penn State and ways “to continue work with young people through Penn State,” essentially granting him license to bring boys to campus facilities for “grooming” as targets for his assault.

    Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of child abuse last month.


  • Published On Jul 12, 2012
  • Freeh Report: Penn State leaders disregarded safety and welfare of Sandusky victims

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    In a press release made available just minutes before the independent investigation into Penn State University, the Freeh report states that former head coach Joe Paterno and university officials knew about the 1998 investigation into Jerry Sandusky when allegations of child molestation were brought to them by assistant coach Mike McQueary in 2001.

    The report, which was commissioned in Nov. 2011, states that the most senior leaders at Penn State had “total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims.”

    Sandusky was convicted on 45 of 48 counts of child molestation on June 23.

    The report also details what happened with the senior leaders after McQueary came to Paterno with what he saw. There was evidence of a proposed plan to alert authorities on March 20, 2001, the report states. But that plan was ultimately changed after then-athletic director Tim Curley consulted with Paterno.

    Based on the evidence, the only known, intervening factor between the decision made on February 25, 2001 by Messrs. Spanier, Curley and Schulz to report the incident to the Department of Public Welfare, and then agreeing not to do so on February 27th, was Mr. Paterno’s February 26th conversation with Mr. Curley.

    The report states the “most important evidence in this investigation” was email correspondence found from 1998 and 2001 among the leaders at the university.

    There were more than 430 interviews conducted for the report, as well as more than 3.5 million emails and other documents analyzed.


  • Published On Jul 12, 2012


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