Jerry Sandusky Lawyers: Coach Taught 'Basic Hygiene Skills' to Boys During Showers
Former Penn State Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky defended his showers with underage boys by saying he was trying to teach them basic hygiene skills.
Jerry Sandusky’s lawyer, Karl Rominger told WHTM-TV on Tuesday, “Some of these kids don’t have basic hygiene skills,” and that, “teaching a person to shower at the age of 12 or 14 sounds strange to some people, but people who work with troubled youth will tell you there are a lot of juvenile delinquents and people who are dependent who have to be taught basic life skills like how to put soap on their body.”
Previously, Sandusky admitted that he “[horsed] around with boys in the shower” to Bob Costas in an NBC interview. He maintains that he is innocent of any charges of sexual abuse.
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On Friday, Mike McQueary, a Penn State graduate assistant, testified in court saying that he’d seen Sandusky molesting a boy around 10 or 12 years old in the shower. He said he reported the incident to then-head coach Joe Paterno, but didn’t use the word sodomy out of respect for Sandusky.
Sandusky was indicted by a grand jury on 42 counts of child molestation dating back from 1994 to 2009. The events are alleged to have taken place on or near the property of Penn State University.
Jerry Sandusky started the Second Mile Charity in 1977. On the official Second Mile website the description reads, “The Second Mile, founded in 1977 in State College, Pennsylvania, is a statewide, nonprofit organization for children who need additional support and who would benefit from positive human contact.”
Now, most of Sandusky’s accusers allege to have met him through the same charity that aims to protect and serve them.
The scandal has led to the firing of Penn State’s famous head coach Paterno after it was discovered that he was alerted of the allegations about 10 years ago. The President of Penn State University, Graham Spanier was forced to resign.
