Penn State Scandal: Administrators Face Perjury for Failure to Report Child Sex Abuse Claims
Two Penn State administrators were facing charges Monday of perjury and failing to report suspected child abuse involving the school's former defense coordinator, Jerry Sandusky.
Police say Athletic Director Tim Curley and the university's senior vice president for business and finance, Gary Schultz, lied to a grand jury and failed to take action after allegations of Sandusky sexually abusing young boys was brought to their attention by various witnesses. The two resigned from their posts late Sunday.
Sandusky, 67, was charged with 40 criminal counts and arraigned this weekend on charges of sexually assaulting eight boys over a 15-year period, many of whom he met through a charity he founded in 1977 for at-risk youths called The Second Mile. According to CBS News, a janitor and graduate assistant witnessed incidents of sex abuse on separate occasions and brought it to the administrators' attention, but no action was taken, which is a violation of Pennsylvania's Child Protective Services Law that requires officials to immediately report any allegations of child abuse.
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Neither Curley nor Schultz ever attempted to follow up on the accusations or find the identities of the boys in question
"Despite a powerful eyewitness statement about the sexual assault of a child, this incident was not reported to any law enforcement or child protective agency, as required by Pennsylvania law," Kelly said.
Head coach Joe Patrano said in a statement that he was shocked by the charges being brought forth.
"The fact that someone we thought we knew might have harmed young people to this extent is deeply troubling," he said. "If this is true we were all fooled, along with scores of professionals trained in such things, and we grieve for the victims and their families. They are in our prayers."
Schultz's lawyer, Thomas J. Farrell, told The Associated Press he believes the case has a strong defense, as the state law only mandates that those who come in direct contact with children report any suspicions of child abuse. Also, the statute of limitations has already run out on the summary offense that Schultz has been charged with.
