Rabid - this is too surreal to keep in only link form. Gotta post the full text here for that "you can't make this sh*t up" moment:
Jerry Sandusky to Bob Costas in exclusive 'Rock Center' interview:
'I shouldn't have showered with those kids.'Mon Nov 14, 2011 7:18 PM EST
By Jessica Hopper
Rock Center
UPDATED: Former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky admitted to showering and horsing around with young boys, but said he is not a pedophile, in an exclusive interview with Bob Costas broadcast Monday night on NBC's Rock Center. "I say that I am innocent of those charges," Sandusky said in the phone interview.
When asked by Costas, "Are you a pedophile," Sandusky responded, "No."Joe Paterno’s one-time defensive coordinator was charged earlier this month with 40 criminal counts accusing him of sexual abuse of minors. He is currently free on a $100,000 bond and has denied any wrongdoing. The allegations date back to 1994, according to the grand jury report filed November 5 in Pennsylvania state court. The report detailed claims of alleged sexual encounters with as many as eight boys in Sandusky's home, hotels and Penn State locker rooms.
"I could say that I have done some of those things. I have horsed around with kids. I have showered after workouts. I have hugged them and I have touched their legs without intent of sexual contact," said Sandusky.(Er...um...hello? Touching their legs, hugging, showering with them.... well, ok, but... how about anal rape?)When asked by Costas to concede any wrongdoing, Sandusky said, "I shouldn't have showered with those kids."
Sandusky's attorney, Joseph Amendola, verified Sandusky's voice and asserted his client's innocence.
"I believe in Jerry's innocence. Quite honestly, Bob, that's why I'm involved in the case," Amendola said. "We expect we're going to have a number of kids, now how many of those so called eight kids we're not sure,
"but we anticipate we're going to have at least several of those kids
come forward and say this never happened. This is me, this is the allegation, it never occurred. In fact, one of the toughest allegations...what [Mike] McQueary said he saw, we have information that that child said that never happened," Amendola said.
(Witness intimidation program fully rolled out: they 'anticipate' kids will recant?) McQueary is currently on paid administrative leave from his job as an assistant coach for Penn State's football team. In 2002, while a graduate assistant, he witnessed Sandusky allegedly engaged in a sexual act with a minor in the Penn State locker room's showers, according to the grand jury report. He told Paterno what he witnessed, according to the grand jury testimony.
Sandusky said McQueary's claims are false.
"We were showering and horsing around and he [the boy] actually turned all the showers on and was actually sliding across the floor and we were, as I recall, possibly like snapping a towel," Sandusky said. McQueary's allegations were never reported to the police.
Sandusky also addressed allegations that he apologized to the mother of one of the alleged victims and said "I wish I were dead" in 1998.
"I didn't say, to my recollection, that I wish I were dead. I was hopeful that we could reconcile things," Sandusky said.
The scandal has tarnished the reputation of the once-heralded football program, leading to the departure of coaching legend Paterno and three other university officials. It’s also left students and residents of State College, Penn., shocked. Sandusky said that right now isn't "the best days of my life."
"How would you think I would feel about a university that I attended, about people that I worked with, about people that I care so much about and how do you think I would feel about it? I feel horrible," Sandusky said.
When asked if he felt responsible for damaging Penn State's image, Sandusky said, "I don't think it's my fault. I've obviously played a part in this, but I don't think I should be accused as I have been."
The sight of 67-year-old Sandusky in handcuffs is hard to reconcile with his public image of a devoted father of six adopted kids who founded a charity to help at risk youth. That charity, The Second Mile, has also come under fire.
According to the grand jury report, all of the alleged sex abuse victims met Sandusky through their participation in The Second Mile. Sandusky founded the charity in 1977 as a group foster home for troubled boys. It spawned into a non-profit organization that has raised millions of dollars to help young boys and girls. Today, Chief Executive Officer Jack Raykovitz’s resignation was announced by the non-profit organization’s board of directors.
Sandusky gave up his day-to-day duties at The Second Mile in 2010. While Sandusky retired from Pennsylvania State University in 1999, he continued to have access to Penn State’s facilities.
"I don't know what I can say or what I could say that would make anybody feel any different now. I would just say that if somehow people could hang on until my attorney has a chance to fight for my innocence, that's about all I can ask right now. Obviously, it's a huge challenge," Sandusky said.
When asked if he had a sexual attraction to underage boys, Sandusky said, "I enjoy young people. I love to be around them, but no, I'm not sexually attracted to young boys."
Editor's Note: In an earlier edition of this report, we mistakenly identified a location of Sandusky's alleged sexual encounters as Paterno's home. According to the grand jury report, it was Sandusky's home.
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The power behind this child sex slavery ring is HUGE and will do whatever it takes to mitigate the 'damage' to the people involved; top priority will be to hide the "rich donors" from public view. This is going to be a massive effort; so these kids who have come forth to give testimony are all vulnerable. Again. Raped again - this time by the corrupt court system. (
For example, the judge who released Sandusky to his home - next to a children's playground, by the way, is a volunteer at The Second Mile!) You really can't make this up - there needs to be an independent investigation from outside the criminal network.
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Sandusky says he's innocent
Coach admits he 'horsed around'http://www.wfmz.com/news/Report-Sandusky-admits-he-horsed-around-but-insists-he-s-innocent/-/121458/4742176/-/view/print/-/3cyi6f/-/Author: By the CNN Wire Staff
STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (CNN) -
Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky insisted in an interview Monday he is "innocent" of charges that he sexually abused young boys, denying to NBC's Bob Costas that he's a pedophile.
In a telephone interview with NBC's "Rock Center With Brian Williams," Sandusky admitted that some details in the graphic 23-page grand jury report released earlier this month are correct.
"I could say I have done some of those things," he said. "I have horsed around with kids I have showered (with) after workouts. I have hugged them, and I have touched their legs without intent of sexual contact."
Still, Sandusky claimed he has been falsely accused of crimes. When pressed, the 67-year-old Sandusky said the only thing he did wrong was having "showered with those kids."
Costas asked directly: "Are you sexually attracted to underage boys?"
Sandusky repeated the question, paused, and responded, "No. I enjoy young people."
Asked if then-head football coach Joe Paterno had ever spoken to him about his behavior or expressed disapproval, Sandustry said simply, "No."
And asked if he felt guilty over the spreading fallout that has affected the university and prominent university figures including the fired Paterno, Sandusky responded, "I don't think it was my fault. I obviously played a part in this ... I shouldn't have showered with those kids. That's what hits me the most."
Sandusky's lawyer, Joe Amendola, said Monday night that showering with children does not equate automatically to sexual assault.
"Jerry Sandusky is a big, overgrown kid. He's a jock," Amendola told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "The bottom line is jocks do that -- they kid around, they horse around."
Sandusky was arrested on November 5, after the release of the grand jury report detailing alleged crimes that he committed between 1994 and 2009. Some of those allegedly happened on Penn State's campus, including one witnessed by then-graduate assistant coach Mike McQueary in 2002.
McQueary told Paterno what he had seen, and Paterno then alerted then-athletic director Tim Curley, but law enforcement didn't learn of the alleged incident until years later.
In the interview with NBC's Costas, Sandusky flatly denied that McQueary witnessed what has been described in some accounts as Sandusky's rape of a young boy. He said instead that he and the boy were in the shower, "snapping towels" and engaging in horseplay.
Regarding the 2002 incident, Amendola said "the kid was messing around and having a good time" in the shower with Sandusky, adding that McQueary felt "uncomfortable" upon seeing it. He denied the more graphic details offered in that and other allegations, claiming that the prosecution's case lacked sufficient evidence and witnesses.
"They have throwing everything they can throw up against the wall," Amendola said of prosecutors' case. " And they're saying, (out of) all these accusations, some of them have to be true. But when you take it apart, they don't even have victims in several of their cases."
After Sandusky was charged this month with 40 counts of sexually abusing children, Judge Leslie Dutchcot freed him on $100,000 bail, against the wishes of prosecutors.
A biography of Dutchcot posted on the website of the law firm Goodall & Yurchak lists her as a volunteer for Second Mile. It is not clear whether Dutchcot currently has any affiliation with the organization.
CNN tried to contact the judge but has not received a response.
School trustees fired university President Graham Spanier and Paterno last week on the heels of Sandusky's arrest, while McQueary was put on administrative leave.
And on Monday, in an indication of the scandal's fallout spreading beyond Penn State, U.S. Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Alana Garas said that the U.S. Navy secretary recommended that Spanier "be removed from the board of advisers to the presidents of the Naval Postgraduate School and Naval War College."
Also on Monday, the board of directors for the charity that Sandusky founded -- Second Mile -- announced that its CEO had resigned. The CEO of 28 years, Jack Raykovitz, a licensed psychologist, "and the board believe this is in the best interests of the organization."
David Woodle, the board's vice chairman, will take over day-to-day operations.
Saying that the "safety and well-being of the children" is central to its mission, the board announced it will conduct an internal investigation and make "recommendations regarding the organization's future operations. We hope to have those findings by the end of December."
The organization vowed to cooperate fully with the state attorney general's investigation.
Sandusky molested young boys after developing close relationships with them through Second Mile, according to the grand jury report.
The group said Sandusky has not been involved with its children since he told officials in November 2008 he was being investigated over "allegations made against him by an adolescent male."
Sandusky and his wife were a host family through another charity, the New York-based Fresh Air Fund, which sends inner-city children to volunteer families and camps in non-urban locales, spokeswoman Andrea Kotuk said. She added that the charity isn't yet sure when the Sanduskys were hosts, saying workers there were reviewing records and cooperating with authorities in Pennsylvania.
On November 7 -- two days after Sandusky's arrest -- the ex-wife of Sandusky's adopted son filed a petition for "temporary emergency modification of custody," according to a filing by the woman's lawyer Justine F. Andronici.
Jill Jones asked that her ex-husband, Matt Sandusky, "not permit the children to be around Jerry Sandusky and that the children not be taken to Dorothy and Jerry Sandusky's residence." The document claims that Matt Sandusky took the children to his parents' home on the day before the request was filed.
The Sanduskys' neighborhood has been affected as well, with the road to his home blocked off and private property signs up on his lawn after police said a cinder block was thrown through a window there.
Since Sandusky was freed, an elementary school bordering his home has taken steps to ensure student safety.
Sandusky's backyard is next to the playground at Lemont Elementary School.When he was released on bail, Sandusky, the former Nittany Lions defensive coordinator, was told not to go near children.
State College Area School District Superintendent Robert J. O'Donnell told The Patriot-News newspaper by e-mail that the school principal "has taken additional administrative action to ensure our children are safe." O'Donnell didn't say what steps were taken.
On Sunday, Melissa and Carl Anderson, the parents of two little boys who live near the school, questioned why he was out on bail.
"It baffles my mind," Melissa Anderson said.
"The presumption of innocence -- we all like to believe in that and we do in this country -- but I think there's a level of protection that a neighborhood and community is entitled to," Carl Anderson said.
The Andersons were once such fans of the coach that they own an autographed, limited-edition copy of his book, "Touched -- The Jerry Sandusky Story."
"For me ... it alternates between anger and sadness," Carl Anderson said of his sentiments now. "It really is a loss of wholesale community innocence."
Curley and Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz have been charged with failing to report the abuse to authorities and misleading investigators. Prosecutors determined they had a legal duty to report the alleged abuse, but not McQueary and Paterno.
On Monday, the Big Ten Conference announced that Paterno's name is being pulled from the football championship trophy to be awarded next month at the conference's first championship game in Indianapolis, Indiana.
"The trophy and its namesake are intended to be celebratory and aspirational, not controversial," Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said in a statement. "We believe that it's important to keep the focus on the players and the teams that will be competing in the inaugural championship game."
The trophy was going to be named after both Paterno, the winningest coach in top-level college football history, and Amos Alonzo Stagg, a founder of the Big Ten. It will now be called the Stagg Championship Trophy.
New Penn State President Rodney Erickson, meanwhile, tried to help his school move on Monday -- after a week that he said "tested the character and resilience of the Penn State community."
In a statement on the school's website, Erickson said he wanted to say "how proud of I am" of the school. He cited a candlelight vigil for abuse victims that thousands took part in Friday night and the Penn State-Nebraska football game on Saturday, which included a moment of silence.
"Today, we are back to class and the business of running this university," he wrote.
"Collectively, we need to show the nation and world that Penn State cares, and that Penn State is a community of individuals committed to moving forward with a shared sense of purpose."
Posted: Nov 15 2011 05:17 AM
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Judge who gave Jerry Sandusky bail after Penn State sex abuse scandal
is Second Mile volunteer Sandusky founded charityhttp://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/judge-gave-jerry-sandusky-bail-penn-state-sex-abuse-scandal-mile-volunteer-article-1.977051BY Kevin Armstrong
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, November 13 2011, 8:54 PM
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The judge who ruled former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky be freed on $100,000 unsecured bail after being charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse against children is a volunteer for The Second Mile, the charity Sandusky founded.The state Attorney General's Office requested $500,000 bail and an electronic leg monitor for Sandusky, but District Judge Leslie Dutchcot, active in several volunteer roles, ordered Sandusky, a State College resident, to have no contact with children. He will not have to pay any money unless he fails to appear for court.
Dutchot also serves as counsel for the law firm Goodall & Yurchak. She is vice president of Centre County Meals on Wheels, a counselor at Centre County Law Enforcement Camp Cadet, Inc. and volunteers for the American Heart Association. A phone call to her office was not immediately returned.
Sandusky wrote a letter of resignation from The Second Mile in 2010, saying, "I believe this is a good time for me to retire from my day-to-day involvement with the organization in order to devote more time to my family and personal matters."
The press secretary from Pennsylvania's State Department said the agency had never received any complaints about The Second Mile with regard to misuse of funds.
"We can assess civil penalties - fines, cease and desist orders - but anything criminal, we would refer to the Attorney General's office," said Ron Ruman. "Second Mile's filings seem to be in order.
We haven't seen a complaint that would have triggered any investigation."
