Thursday, July 19, 2012

Penn State did not fully cooperate in Sandusky probe, Former chairman becomes first Penn State trustee to resign post-Sandusky

Penn State did not fully cooperate in Sandusky probe: governor By Mark Shade HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania Thu Jul 19, 2012

(Reuters) - Pennsylvania's governor said on Thursday that Penn State University officials may have intentionally withheld information from a grand jury looking into allegations of football coach Jerry Sandusky's child sex abuse. Penn State's cooperation in the Sandusky investigation, dating back to 2009, was "incomplete," despite a subpoena from the state attorney general, Governor Tom Corbett said at a news conference. Corbett was Pennsylvania's attorney general in 2009, before he was elected governor in 2010....

Penn State failed to turn over all the evidence sought by the grand jury looking into Sandusky, Corbett said.  "It was not initially provided by Penn State University when it was subpoenaed by the attorney general's office," he said. "I am very disappointed in the lack of forthcoming evidence to the subpoena that was given to them by the attorney general's office," he added.  Pennsylvania newspapers reported that Corbett said that emails implicating university officials did not come to light until after charges had been filed in the Sandusky case.

Penn State spokesman Dave La Torre said that Penn State is cooperating fully with all investigations. "Penn State has, literally, turned over millions of pages of documents to investigators and continues to cooperate with any and all requests for information," he said.

The grand jury investigation into the case remains open, according to Attorney General spokesman Nils Frederiksen. He would not say whether Penn State might face obstruction of justice charges or if any other charges might be pending....

Penn State also faces an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education, which is weighing whether it violated the Clery Act that requires colleges to report criminal incidents on campus, and by the NCAA, which governs U.S. college sports and is weighing sanctions against the university.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/20/us-usa-pennstate-governor-idUSBRE86J00G20120720 


Former chairman becomes first Penn State trustee to resign post-Sandusky
 
  CBSSports.com wire reports July 19, 2012

A member and former chairman of the Penn State board of trustees resigned on Thursday, becoming the first board member to do so in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Steve Garban said in a letter his presence on the board had become "a distraction and an impediment" to its efforts to move forward.

Garban, who had stepped down as board chairman after Sandusky's November arrest but had remained a board member, was harshly criticized over his handling of the crisis that engulfed Penn State, and he faced persistent calls from alumni and fellow board members to resign.

An internal investigation by former FBI Director Louis Freeh found that Garban was briefed twice about developments in the Sandusky case but didn't share what he knew with the entire board, depriving trustees of a chance to prepare for the worst crisis in Penn State's 157-year history....

In April 2011, the report said, Spanier told Garban about a grand jury investigation of Sandusky. Garban, in turn, failed to alert fellow board members. Garban told investigators that Spanier downplayed the Sandusky probe, and he recalled his former boss saying, "It was the third or fourth grand jury and nothing would come of it," the report said.

Then, on Oct. 28, Garban learned from Penn State's chief lawyer that two university administrators were about to be charged with failing to report suspected child abuse. Garban told investigators he was "astounded" when he saw Sandusky in the Nittany Lion Club at Penn State's home game against Illinois on Oct. 29. Yet he informed only two other trustees -- James Broadhurst and John Surma -- that charges against Sandusky, Athletic Director Tim Curley and Vice President Gary Schultz were imminent. http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/19617513/former-chairman-becomes-first-penn-state-trustee-to-resign-postsandusky

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