Freeh Report: Penn State Officials Showed 'No Concern' For Victims
Joe Paterno and three other Penn State officials “repeatedly concealed critical facts” about Jerry Sandusky’s contact with young boys.
Four high-ranking Penn State University officials, including legendary football coach Joe Paterno, “repeatedly concealed critical facts” about Jerry Sandusky’s contact with young boys, according to an independent investigation released this morning.
The investigation headed by former FBI Director Louis Freeh concluded that Paterno, former president Graham Spanier, former athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz all knew about a 1998 investigation into Sandusky but showed “no concern about that victim” and took no action against him.
“The evidence shows that Mr. Paterno was made aware of the 1998 investigation of Sandusky, followed it closely, but failed to take any action, even though Sandusky had been a key member of his coaching staff for almost 30 years, and had an office just steps away from Mr. Paterno’s,” investigators wrote in a press release. “At the very least, Mr. Paterno could have alerted the entire football staff, in order to prevent Sandusky from bringing another child into the Lasch (football training) Building.”
Freeh and his law firm, Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan, LLP, were retained in November 2011 on behalf of the Special Investigations Task Force of the Board of Trustees of The Pennsylvania State University to conduct the independent investigation. Investigators conducted 430 interviews and reviewed 3.5 million pieces of electronic data and documents.
The investigators found that the four officials showed “callous and shocking disregard for child victims” when learning that a graduate assistant had witnessed Sandusky molesting a boy in the football training center in 2001. The report also concludes that the four men did nothing except for Curley informing The Second Mile that Sandusky was found showering with a boy.
The entire report is now available at TheFreehReportonPSU.com. At 10 a.m., Freeh will hold a news conference in Philadelphia, which will be carried live on the Pennsylvania Cable Network.
Sandusky was convicted June 22 on 45 counts of child sex abuse. He is expected to be sentenced in September.
The scandal rocked the university in State College, forced the ouster of legendary football coach Joe Paterno and led to perjury charges against two other high-level school officials. Former Penn State President Graham Spanier also lost his job, and there’s speculation he might also be under investigation.
Continue to monitor Patch.com as more details become available on the report
Guest
9:42 am on Thursday, July 12, 2012
I'm interested to see how this all plays out it should be a good one. I do feel this is a disgrace. A big school like PSU was to full of themselves to report any wrong doing. They wanted to save the football name then protect the children.
It's a shame, and I hope justice gets served for the sake of all the innocent children that had their youth taken by this sick individual and corrupt school.
Mike Jones
10:37 am on Thursday, July 12, 2012
Having already gone through the trial, it seems that most details about the child molestations are already public record. What is so surprising with this report is how PSU President Graham Spanier refused to brief the Board of Trustees on details even AFTER charges were filed. He works for them, not the other way around.