Report: Ex-Penn State head OK'd not reporting Sandusky
Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky arrives at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa., June 22, 2012. / AP Photo
(AP) STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Emails show Penn State's former president Graham Spanier agreed not to take allegations of sex abuse against ex-assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky to authorities but worried university officials would be "vulnerable" for failing to report it, a news organization has reported.
CNN says the emails, first obtained by and reported on by NBC, followed a graduate assistant's 2001 report of seeing Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy in a team locker room shower.
The emails show athletic director Tim Curley and retired vice president Gary Schultz intended to report the allegation, then reconsidered. Spanier responded that he was "supportive" of their plan, but he worried they might "become vulnerable for not having reported it."
Sandusky was convicted this month of 45 counts of sexually abusing 10 boys. The scandal led to the ouster of Spanier and revered coach Joe Paterno and charges against Curley and Schultz, who are accused of perjury for their grand jury testimony and failing to properly report suspected child abuse. Spanier hasn't been charged.
The CNN report cites an email from Schultz to Curley on Feb. 26, 2001, 16 days after graduate assistant Mike McQueary told veteran coach Joe Paterno about the shower assault. Schultz suggests bringing the allegation to the attention of Sandusky, Sandusky's charity and the Department of Welfare, which investigates suspected child abuse, according to the report.
But the next night, Curley sent an email to Spanier, saying that after thinking about it more and talking to Paterno, he was "uncomfortable" with that plan and wanted to work with Sandusky before contacting authorities, the report said.
If Sandusky is cooperative, Curley's email said, "we would work with him. .... If not, we do not have a choice and will inform the two groups," according to the report.
Spanier wrote back and agreed with that approach, calling it "humane and a reasonable way to proceed," according to the report. But he also worried about the consequences.
"The only downside for us is if message isn't `heard' and acted upon and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it, but that can be assessed down the road," the email said, according to CNN.
Spanier's attorney didn't immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment Saturday.
Schultz and Curley's lawyers on Saturday echoed recent comments by Gov. Tom Corbett about the need for a solid case before charging Sandusky. Corbett began the investigation in 2009 when he was attorney general.
"For Curley, Schultz, Spanier and Paterno, the responsible and `humane' thing to do was, like Governor Corbett, to carefully and responsibly assess the best way to handle vague, but troubling allegations," the lawyers said. "Faced with tough situations, good people try to do their best to make the right decisions."
Paterno, ousted by the school's board of trustees for what was called his "failure of leadership" surrounding allegations against Sandusky, died of lung cancer in January. After Sandusky's arrest, Paterno said through a spokesman that he reported the allegation to the head of his department and "that was the last time the matter was brought to my attention until this investigation and I assumed that the men I referred it to handled the matter appropriately."
Schultz, 62, and Curley, 58, deny the allegations and have asked a judge to dismiss the charges. A status conference for their case is scheduled for July 11.
Spanier sued Penn State in May to try to get copies of his email traffic from 1998 to 2004, citing the pending investigation being conducted on the university by former FBI director Louis Freeh. Two weeks ago, lawyers for Penn State asked a judge to throw out the lawsuit and said the attorney general's office, which is prosecuting Curley and Schultz, had asked them not to provide Spanier with the emails.
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First off Des Moines area Community College is retaliating against me. After making several reports of ABuse, Harassment, assaults, thefts, Dmages and etc.
The Dept. of Ed. so far has not done anything, but let the issues continue. I have contacted everyone.
I was forced to talk to the judicial officer which did not even give me a chance to get of the Student conduct hold. instead she forced me to say things I did not want to say.
the first phone call she said was about the Student housing incidents which I live in the hands of 16 year olds. I was over the age of 25 at the time.
there were several others calls and emails. on email which came from the Judicial officer installed some new stuff to my PC, which shut it down and gave me a new desktop and uninstalled programs/software and etc.
I have one email that says she didnt even talk about the Student housing. yet she did.
the police even called me and told me I cant press charges and that they could arrest me for talking. they asked if I have mental issues. and the officer said he never met me... thats interisting because I remember talking to him back in 2010/2011 explaining the issues in fact I have a Records/Case Number.
at the student housing in 2010/2011 I was chased down one day by one of my roommates and his firends because a Bottle of Laundry soap fell off the washer or dryer and made a fairly good mess. I was forced to clean it up and was forced to drink it. and about 2 or so hours later I asked the RA and he Called the Poison control.
My 2 week old Laptop Destroyed, I paid about $800 for it.
I was cut several times. I do have scars from the cuts/slices.
My Keys were broken/Stolen by The students who lived there forcing me out of my apt sometimes the complex all night long.
The management made me pay for Damages to the apt. which I did not do, and etc.
I have pictures, Copies of Emails, Cell phone call records, Verizon should be able to get a copy of the actual calls, documents.. etc.
Sandusky is not the only one with a problem!
dignity and sacredness of the "individual", who in their eyes is expendable "collateral" damage. As has been said before: "QUESTION AUTHORITY!" Too many are slavish serfs who just "go along", "team players" and scum looking for their next promotion or paycheck. Morality takes a back seat to MONEY IN AMERICA.
Send them all to jail.
For putting football above civility and humanity.
Ouch. So close to doing the right thing; and it is now evident the three of them KNEW what the "right thing" to do was. Really there's no excuse for dropping the ball. Dropping the ball? Hell, they dropped it then kicked into the bushes in the yard next door! Even in 2001, the only acceptable response to a situation like this was an immediate express run to the police. Someting like this does not get handled in-house.
"Curley.....wanted to work with Sandusky before contacting authorities, the report said."
Tiiiiiimmmmm! you don't "work with" sexual predators, you can't. So far as the science of sexual obsessions takes us today, the only thing you can do with people like Sandusky is isolate them. Oh, I suppose you can kill 'em, too but.... No one really knows the basis of Pedophilia and I suppose a pedophile who has enough self control to keep his/her hands off little kids is no more morally culpable than an alcholic who never drinks.
But I'm afraid many do not and once the preditory habit becomes ingrained there is absolutely NOTHING one can do to turn them back. Someone like Mr. S, who is a case hardened sexual preditor can NOT be cured. Can not. Can not. Can NOT. At least not yet, not with the treatment tools available today. Even with kids who show these tendencies the prognosis is grim no matter the treatment protocol. In fact, one of the thorniest problems facing criminal science experts is: What DO you do with people like these?
"The CNN report cites an email from Schultz to Curley on Feb. 26, 2001, 16 days after graduate assistant Mike McQueary told veteran coach Joe Paterno about the shower assault. Schultz suggests bringing the allegation to the attention of Sandusky, Sandusky's charity and the Department of Welfare, which investigates suspected child abuse, according to the report."
This is also disturbing. Am I to understand that it took over two weeks for Schultz to decide he should "suggest" reporting this? I hope not but it surely looks bad for all involved as this mess gets messier and messier.
This is why I was glad to hear that so many of Sandusky's victims were willing to testify, which meant that he face such a large number of charges. If only one or two victims had been willing to testify, and Jerry had only been convicted on a few charges, he probably would have lived long enough to eventually get out of prison. And he would have gone right back to abusing children again. Even if his pool of potential victims at "Second Mile" was no longer available.
Sexual predation (whether against children or adults) is not rehabilitatable. They're either locked away in prison or they're looking for new victims.