Sandusky Found Guilty but More Victims are Coming Forward
PHILADELPHIA
Reuters says three men have come forward to say they were sexually abused as early as the 1970s or 1980s by former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, years before the assaults that he was convicted of committing, the Harrisburg Patriot-News reported on Monday.
The men are the first alleged victims with complaints dating back to the 1970s against Sandusky, who was convicted in June of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period beginning in 1994, the newspaper said.
Police are aware of the men's claims, said the article by reporter Sara Ganim, who won a Pulitzer Prize this year for her coverage of the scandal.
It was not clear if the men had been interviewed by former FBI director Louis Freeh, who last week released a report excoriating the late Pennsylvania State University football coach Joe Paterno and other school officials for failing to take steps for 14 years to protect children victimized by Sandusky.
Freeh's report, commissioned by the Penn State board of trustees, did not mention any cases prior to the 1990s.
Nils Frederiksen, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office, said he could not comment on matters before a grand jury. The grand jury investigation into the Sandusky case remains open.
Sandusky's attorney Joseph Amendola could not immediately be reached for comment.
Sandusky, 68, faces as much as 373 years in prison.
Paterno's family, meanwhile, angered by Freeh's report, said it will conduct its own investigation into the child sex abuse scandal that has stained the football legend's legacy.
Family members said they "are dismayed by, and vehemently disagree with" findings in the report that accused Paterno and other officials of covering up allegations of sex abuse by Sandusky to avoid bad publicity that could upset donors and damage the Penn State brand.
'THE LAST WORD'
The Paterno family said it has asked its attorneys and experts to conduct a comprehensive review of Freeh's report and comments, and "we have also asked them to go beyond the report and identify additional information that should be analyzed."
They said they asked Freeh to preserve all his records, notes and other materials "as we expect they will be the subject of great interest in the future."
"To those who are convinced that the Freeh report is the last word on this matter, that is absolutely not the case," the family said. "It is highly likely that additional critical information will emerge."
Paterno's estate could be sued for damages by victims of Sandusky's abuse, according to legal experts.
The scandal rocked the world of college sports with Sandusky's arrest in November, and Freeh's report underscored what it called callous disregard and inaction by Penn State officials. It said they had known about allegations against Sandusky since 1998, when university police investigated a complaint of abuse but let him off with a warning.
Critics have called for Penn State's highly regarded football program to be penalized and for the removal of a campus statue of Paterno, who won more games than any coach in major college football history.
A university spokesman said on Monday that neither the board of trustees nor the Penn State administration had made a decision on the statue.
Paterno was fired by the board in November and died in January of lung cancer.
"To claim that he knowingly, intentionally protected a pedophile is false," his family said in the statement.
The Freeh report said emails exchanged in 1998 and 2001 showed school officials discussed reporting allegations about Sandusky to authorities. After speaking to Paterno, "they changed the plan and decided not to make a report," Freeh said.
The Paterno family said it did not intend to duplicate Freeh's efforts and would not make further comments until its attorneys have an update on the progress of their investigation.
A spokeswoman for the family would not specify the attorneys or experts who will be involved in the new investigation.
(Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Writing by Ellen Wulfhorst; Editing by Vicki Allen)
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