Sandusky claims innocence, but admits to showers

Updated 11:13 PM EST

NEW YORK - A former Penn State football assistant coach charged with sexually abusing eight boys in a scandal that has rocked the university said Monday that there was no abuse and that any activities in a campus shower with a boy were just horseplay, not molestation.

In a telephone interview Monday night on NBC News' "Rock Center," Bob Costas asked Jerry Sandusky if he's a pedophile and Sandusky responded, "No."

Sandusky, once considered veteran coach Joe Paterno's heir apparent, was arrested more than a week ago and is charged with sexually abusing eight boys, some on Penn State property, over a 15-year span.

"I am innocent of those charges," the 67-year-old Sandusky said. "... 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."

Asked whether he was sexually attracted to underaged boys, he said "Sexually attracted, no. I enjoy young people, I love to be around them, but, no, I'm not sexually attracted to young boys."

Asked if there was anything he had done wrong, Sandusky said, "I shouldn't have showered with those kids."

The interview with Costas was Sandusky's first public comment on the charges. He had previously maintained his innocence through his attorney, Joe Amendola.

A spokesman for Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly declined to comment on the interview, citing the active investigation.

Sandusky is at the center of a controversy that has rocked not only the Penn State football program, but the school and the state of Pennsylvania. He is charged with 40 counts related to the sexual abuse of young boys and a grand jury report documents alleged incidents of rape as well as inappropriate touching of boys he met through his charity for troubled adolescents, Second Mile.

In an interview that aired on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" program Monday night, Sandusky's attorney, Joe Amendola, said he believes in his client's innocence and calls him an "overgrown kid."

"He's a jock. For anybody who's ever played sports, you get showers after you work out. ,...but the bottom line is jocks do that, They kid around, they horse around. What Jerry said in regards to the one allegation [to what] the grad student [Mike McQueary] saw, [according to Sandusky,] "We were horsing around, we weren't engaged in sexual activity."

Amendola added: "That's a far different thing...than saying that he committed these other acts, which the prosecution alleged he did. What's going to come out in this case is that Jerry did get showers with kids. What I am being told happened is that Jerry was in the shower with this kid, the kid was messing around, having a good time. He had McQuary come in and see that, he felt uncomfortable, which is exactly what [then-Penn State athletic director Tim] Curley and [then-Penn State senior vice president Gary] Schultz are saying, that it was reported by them by McQueary, that he saw Sandusky in a shower with a kid and he felt uncomfortable."

He also said that Sandusky is "destroyed. People are throwing bricks through his windows at home. I have calls coming in from the police from the township where he lives saying, 'How do we protect him and his wife?' I suggested that they get away for a while but his response was, 'Where do I go? I've been all over the news. No matter where I go, [people] are going to recognize me.' He is distraught, he is absolutely devastated by what's happened to [now-former Penn State coach] Joe Paterno."

Complete coverage: The Penn State Scandal

The New York Times reported on its website late Monday that close to 10 additional suspected victims have come forward to authorities since Sandusky's arrest, according to people close to the investigation. The paper said police were working to confirm the new allegations.

A spokesman for Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly declined to comment on the interview, citing the active investigation.

Amendola accused the attorney general's office of having "thrown everything they can throw up against the wall." He said some of the allegations, such as putting a hand on a boy's knee, do not constitute criminal conduct and other cases include no direct complaint by the boy.

"They have other people who are saying they saw something, but they don't have actual people saying, `This is what Jerry did to me," Amendola said. "We're working to find those people, and when the time comes, and if we are able to do that, we think this whole case will change dramatically."

Earlier Monday, CBS News investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reported that at least two of Sandusky's alleged victims were believed to be preparing civil lawsuits.

The suits being prepared are against Penn State University and possibly against The Second Mile, the charity for troubled kids which Sandusky founded in 1977.

Eight victims of abuse were listed in the grand jury presentment which documented allegations against the former defensive coach. Prosecutors charge Sandusky's repeated abuse of young boys dates back 15 years, and that he met his victims via The Second Mile.

Alleged Sandusky victims prepare civil suits
Sandusky bail judge has ties to Second Mile
President of Sandusky's Second Mile resigns

Three separate, far-reaching investigations are underway into the child abuse scandal - and a university response has already cost four top officials their jobs, including the school's legendary coach Joe Paterno.

On CBS' "The Early Show" this morning, Penn State president Rodney Erickson said other victims may come forward. "That's entirely possible. I'm not aware of any at this point but certainly possible," he said.

Gov.: Penn St. witness failed "moral obligation"
Sandusky was "creepy," says ex-foundation kid

Another revelation Monday was that the judge who set a reduced bail for Sandusky after he was arrested earlier this month was a volunteer and donor for The Second Mile.

District Judge Leslie Dutchcot, who released Sandusky on $100,000 bail - far less than the $500,000 requested by prosecutors - names The Second Mile as one of the organizations for which she volunteers, according to her attorney profile on the website of her firm, Goodall & Yurchak.

The link was first reported by the website Deadspin.com.

[zloh]

My grandson visits, I lock bathroom door when I am in it. The tragedy is the boys lives. A cloud will always be over them.

[JV1970]

When horseplay progresses to the point that an adult touches a child on their privates or asks the child to touch them or exposes their genitals to the child, the horseplay is then no longer horseplay. It's child molestation!

[JV1970]

I don't care if they were "jocks" or if, according to Sandusky, it was just "horseplay"! A grown man shouldn't get naked and shower with kids and especially with kids that are not his kids! There is a line that you just don't cross with children and when Sandusky decided to take off his clothes and shower with those kids he crossed it!

[PourpaixPourpaix]

Perhaps I can't speak for everybody's experience, but there's no such thing as horseplay in a heterosexual men's/boy's shower that includes, while naked, wrestling, familiar touching of bodies, hugging, or even soaping each other (except for throwing the soap bar at someone for being a jerk). Touching while alone with another man in a deserted locker room at 9:30pm? It plain and simply does not happen to two heterosexual males.

So, this supposedly staunch heterosexual male (Sandusky) is repeatedly seen making intimate or playful gestures to young boys while both are naked, alone together in locker rooms at night when there is really no valid reason to be there. I don't think any charity serving youth can tolerate even this potentially innocent circumstance. And when the behavior is observed to be sexually criminal, this clown hires a lawyer who is a pedophile himself. Apparently, the lawyer got a 15 year old girl pregnant, then emancipated her so he could marry her. This whole thing stinks.

[ssporleder]

I am so not on this pervert's side, but shouldn't he just shut up about all of this?


He is not helping his case, or maybe because he knows he is going down in flames, he just says what is on his sick little mind?

[wlhoppers]

Sandusky's arrogance is both amazing and appalling. People are losing their jobs right and left over his perversions and he's declaring himself innocent. That's some kind of nerve....

This whole situation is like a cancer spreading out of control. I'm sure there's more to come.

[nirak2-2009]

His defense reminds me of Michael Jacksons defense.
I slept with the kids in the same bed, but no evil intent.

[JV1970]

I don't think there's any doubt about it! They both crossed the line!

[maketheconnection]

Why haven't amy other university presidents condemned the overlooking, the active ignoring, and the cover up that allowed this to happen for decades? Might it be because universities always protect their powerful members -- coaches, star researchers, and administrators -- at the expense of the less powerful -- in the name of protecting the institution? The crime is horrific, but a predictable part of the darkest side of human nature. The institutional lack of effective response and the lack of outrage from others in the "Academy" should give all parents and citizens pause.

[bikeboat]

Ah yes I loves to get naked and shower with those little boys but I draws the line when it comes to doin' the dirty!

[Anokaman1]

He now is admitting to what he thinks people know and is denying what is a felony. His days are numbered. Remember Jeffery Dahmer.
The lifer who killed him in prison said he did so because he hurt children, it would make him famous and he didnt have anything to lose.
My guess is Sandusky wont let himself go to prison.