Penn State Scandal: Feds Consider Launching Criminal Inquiry Into Jerry Sandusky
Federal prosecutors and the FBI are looking into launching their own investigation to decide if the alleged child sex abuser Jerry Sandusky crossed state lines to abuse victims.
Sandusky, the former assistant coach at Penn State and founder of the charity The Second Mile, is facing 40 criminal counts of child sex abuse.
One of the charges against Sandusky alleges that the former coach flew a boy to Tampa, Fla. in 1998 for the Outback Bowl. The same victim was allegedly flown to San Antonio, Texas for the Alamo Bowl the next year.
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The grand jury report holds that Sandusky abused the victim from the age of 13 and threatened to send him home from the Alamo Bowl when the child refused his advances.
Federal prosecutors also are investigating if Sandusky used the Internet to locate victims and prosecutors hold that it is likely that the Sandusky case will go to federal court.
A federal official told NBC news that “it would be inconceivable that we couldn’t find grounds” to take the case to the federal level.
In a Nov. 14 phone interview with NBC’s Bob Costas, Sandusky discussed the allegations and declared his innocence.
“I could say that I have done some of those things," Sandusky said. “I have horsed around with kids I have showered (with them) after workouts. I have hugged them and I have touched their legs without intent of sexual contact.”
However, Sandusky did admit “in retrospect” that showering with young boys was not proper conduct.
Nevertheless, legal experts argue that showering with young children is classic pedophilic behavior.
“I think if you speak to anyone who has tried these types of cases and anyone that’s an expert in this area, they will tell you that it’s just such a classic fact pattern,” legal expert Sunny Hostin told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
