Sandusky Investigation Drew Psychologist’s Alert in 1998, Report Says

Sandusky Investigation Drew Psychologist’s Alert in 1998, Report Says

By MARK VIERA March 24, 2012

More than a decade before the former Penn State football assistant Jerry Sandusky was charged with child sexual abuse, a psychologist warned the university police in an investigation into a suspected assault of an 11-year-old boy that Sandusky’s actions in that case fit a “likely pedophile’s pattern.” But the university seemed to do nothing about Sandusky in the wake of that report in 1998.

What is unknown is whether senior officials at Penn State were unaware of the investigation, or whether they knew of it but chose to do nothing.

The details of the investigation were made public Saturday in an NBC News broadcast. NBC News, which obtained the police report and the assessments of two psychologists who had interviewed the 11-year-old boy, did not initially release the documents with the article it published online.

The investigation uncovered a clear warning about Sandusky, then the defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions. Sandusky was charged late last year with more than 50 counts of child sexual abuse. He is accused of sexually abusing 10 boys from 1994 to 2009....

Sandusky, 68, has maintained his innocence. Last week, his lawyer, Joseph Amendola, asked a judge to dismiss the sexual abuse charges against Sandusky....

The campus police’s 1998 report totaled almost 100 pages, but the district attorney at the time decided against taking the case to trial. People with knowledge of the active Sandusky case told The New York Times in November that the district attorney’s decision in 1998 was seen as a close call, even with the evidence that the Penn State police had....

On May 19, 1998, still working under the supervision of the district attorney, Penn State’s campus police officers set up a sting operation. The boy’s mother met Sandusky and confronted him, with the police monitoring the conversation.

Sandusky admitted to showering with her son and another boy and said that he did not think that his private parts had touched her son, but acknowledged that what he had done was wrong.

“I wish I could get forgiveness,” Sandusky was quoted as saying. “I know I won’t get it from you. I wish I were dead.”

A week and a half later, according to NBC News, Schreffler and Lauro interviewed Sandusky at his office. The police report said that Sandusky had admitted to hugging the boy in the shower and to showering with other boys and had said he realized he used poor judgment in doing so.

“As a result of the investigation, it could not be determined that a sexual assault occurred and Sandusky was advised of such,” the 1998 police report read. One investigator then advised Sandusky not to shower with children and he agreed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/sports/ncaafootball/psychologist-alerted-penn-states-police-to-sandusky-in-1998-nbc-says.html