Authorities condemned Penn State University today for what they called a widespread culture of failing to report the alleged sexual abuse of childrenby assistant football coach Gerald "Jerry" Sandusky.
"This is not a case about football. This is not a case about universities. This is a case about children that have had their innocence stolen and a culture that did nothing to stop it or prevent it from happening to others," said State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan.
School Athletic Director Tim Curley and Vice President of Finance Gary Shultz were arraigned today on charges of perjury and failure to report abuse.
Sandusky was arrested Saturday and charged with molesting eight boys over the course of 15 years, at least three of which were brought to the attention of employees at Penn State who failed to report the incidences to police.
Head football coach Joseph Paterno, who recently set a record for the most games won by a top division coach, had been told of an eyewitness account by a university staff member of Sandusky having a sexually inappropriate relationship with a boy about the age of 10 in 2002.
Paterno relayed the report to Curley, but did not call police. Paterno was only legally bound to tell his supervisor, which he did, according to the attorney general.
Police are still trying to determine the identity of the boy.
"There aren't many heros involved" in the case, Noonan said.
The commissioner said there had been three instances in which school officials allegedly witnessed Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy, but no one acted to prevent it from recurring.
"I don't think I've ever seen something like this before," Noonan said.
Curly and Shultz, as administrators of the university who knew the details of the eyewitness report and did not notify police, are now charged with perjury and failure to report abuse.
When asked about Paterno, Noonan said, "He is not regarded as a target at this point."
School President Graham Spanier also has not been charged. It is unclear whether Spanier knew the full extent of the allegations.
The allegations against Sandusky include eight named victims who have testified that Sandusky befriended them through the charitable organization he founded, The Second Mile, a group home and outreach program for troubled boys. Sandusky allegedly tried to mentor the boys, plied them with gifts, trips to sporting events, and access to the Penn State football facilities, and then sexually assaulted them.
Sandusky had coached at Penn State for 23 years, and served as the defensive coordinator for 23 years, before retiring in 1999. After his retirement, Sandusky continued to have full access to the school's grounds and an office in the football department, where he brought children from The Second Mile, according to indictment.
Following the incident in 2002, in which Paterno and his supervisors were notified, Sandusky continued to have access to the grounds, showers, and an office in the department.
In two previous incidences, janitors witnessed Sandusky having sexual contact with a boy in the shower but failed to report it for fear of losing their job. The university police were notified by a mother whose son told her about sexual contact with Sandusky on campus grounds. The university police and county district attorney did not press charges and the case was closed.
Curly and Shultz announced they were both stepping down from their positions after an executive session of Penn State's Board of Trustees on Sunday. Their decision follows the arrest Saturday of Sandusky on charges of sexually abusing eight boys in a program he started for at-risk kids.
Spanier made a statement late Sunday that Curley had requested he be placed on administrative leave so he can deal with the allegations, while Schultz will be going back into retirement, The Associated Press reported.
Spanier said Curley and Schultz have his "unconditional support," but state prosecutors say the university failed to follow up on the allegations or to notify police.
Sandusky, once known for grooming star players for the Penn State Nittany Lions, was considered both a possible successor to legendary head coach Joe Paterno and a pillar of the community. He is now free on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing on Nov. 9, but has been banned from the university campus. He faces life behind bars if convicted.
According to an explicit grand jury indictment Sandusky used his position to recruit young, male victims -- many of whom he allegedly assaulted in campus facilities.
According to the report, in 2002 a graduate assistant said he saw Sandusky having sex with a boy in the showers at the team's practice center. The assistant went to Paterno -- a man who has staked his reputation on running a program known for ethics and integrity -- and Paterno in turn relayed the incident to Curley.
Curley never reported the incident to police, while Sandusky continued to work with children and allegedly continued to abuse several minors over the following years.
On Saturday Sandusky was arrested and charged with 40 counts of sex crimes against eight boys. When questioned at his home by ABC News about the scandal, Sandusky said he was not at liberty to speak about the allegations.
"The situation is in the courts and I'm not to make any comments," he told ABC News. "Unfortunately, unfortunately I'm not in the position to make any statements."
His attorney says Sandusky has maintained his innocence.
"He's very distraught about the charges, the allegations and the knowledge that regardless of whether he eventually proves his guilt or innocence people are going to think that he did this," attorney Joe Amendola said.
On Sunday afternoon Paterno released a statement to the press via his son Scott.
"The fact that someone we thought we knew might have harmed young people to this extent is deeply troubling," Paterno said in the statement. "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."
"In the meantime I would ask all Penn Staters to continue to trust in what that name represents, continue to pursue their lives every day with high ideals and not let these events shake their beliefs nor who they are," Paterno said.
In the statement Paterno acknowledges that he was made aware of the situation by the assistant coach in 2002, and that he passed on the information to Curley. Scott Paterno said in an interview that his father never spoke to Sandusky about the allegation and after referring the report of the incident to authorities did not discuss it again, according to The New York Times.
"It was obvious that the witness was distraught over what he saw," Paterno said. "Regardless, it was clear that the witness saw something inappropriate involving Mr. Sandusky. As Coach Sandusky was retired from our coaching staff at that time, I referred the matter to university administrators."
The retired coach would allegedly use expensive gifts and trips to maintain contact with his victims, who were as young as 10 years old when the alleged abuse began, according to the investigation.
Sandusky allegedly also used his volunteer coaching job at a Pennsylvania high school, from which he was barred in 2009, to continue preying on a victim he had been abusing for years, the grand jury report said.
He would call the boy out of class for unsupervised meetings during the day, according to school officials. A wrestling coach also testified to the grand jury that he encountered the victim and Sandusky lying face to face in a secluded weight room one evening.
The boy's mother reported her suspicions to the school and police were alerted. Thus began a two-year investigation that led to Sandusky's arrest Saturday on 40 counts that even if found guilty on one, could send him to prison for the rest of his life.
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