5 day forecast
Sandusky charged with abusing two more juveniles
Share with others:
BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested and taken to jail today after two more people came forward to accuse him of sexually abusing them while they participated in a youth program founded by Mr. Sandusky.
The state attorney general's office announced new criminal charges stemming from the allegations of young men it identified as Victim 9 and Victim 10. Mr. Sandusky, 67, was charged Nov. 5 with molesting eight children who were part of his The Second Mile program. He has denied those allegations.
The judge who arraigned Mr. Sandusky ordered him to be held on $250,000 cash bail on the latest charges. After the hearing, Mr. Sandusky was taken to the Centre County Correctional Facility.
Senior Magisterial District Judge Robert E. Scott also said today that if Mr. Sandusky posts bail, he must submit to electronic monitoring. Judge Scott also told Mr. Sandusky he must not have any contact with victims or witnesses and that he cannot have any unsupervised contact with minors.
Prosecutors had sought $1 million in bail.
Mr. Sandusky, dressed in a blue Penn State wrestling sweatsuit, appeared to be disheveled and haggard for the arraignment, which lasted about 10 minutes.
"As in many of the other cases identified to date, the contact with Sandusky allegedly fit a pattern of 'grooming' victims," Attorney General Linda Kelly said, "beginning with outings to football games and gifts they later included physical contact that escalated to sexual assaults."
According to the grand jury, Victim 9 first encountered Mr. Sandusky in about 2004, while participating in a summer camp organized by The Second Mile, when he was 11 or 12 years old. Mr. Sandusky is accused of approaching the young man, engaging him in conversation and expressing an interest in spending more time with the child.
Ms. Kelly said Mr. Sandusky took the boy to numerous Penn State University football games and gave him gifts and money.
Later, the grand jury found that during overnight stays at Mr. Sandusky's home, behavior such as hugging, rubbing, cuddling and tickling -- initially viewed as acts of affection -- escalated to sexual assaults. Additional sex acts were performed in the swimming pool and Jacuzzi of a hotel in the State College area, at times when the pool area was not occupied, according to the grand jury's findings.
According to the presentment, Mr. Sandusky told Victim 9 that he loved and cared for him and urged him to keep their activities secret.
In the case of Victim 10, the boy was referred to The Second Mile in 1997, when he was 10 years old, at the recommendation of a counselor because of difficulties in his home life.
Mr. Sandusky approached the boy during a summer camp and later made arrangements to take the boy to several Penn State football games where the boy played football at Holuba Hall on the Penn State campus, attended "tailgate parties" prior to the game and spent time at the Sandusky home, according to the grand jury.
"Wrestling" sessions in the basement of Sandusky's home eventually escalated to incidents where Mr. Sandusky performed sex acts on the boy, according to the grand jury. Victim 10 also detailed incidents which occurred at a swimming pool on the Penn State Campus, along with an encounter in a car when Sandusky exposed himself and requested a sex act from the boy, the grand jury found.
Mr. Sandusky is charged with four counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and two counts of unlawful contact with a minor, all first-degree felonies which are each punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $25,000 fines; one count of indecent assault and two counts of endangering the welfare of children, all third-degree felonies which are each punishable by up to seven years in prison and $15,000 fines; and one count of indecent assault and two counts of corruption of minors, all first-degree misdemeanors each punishable by up to five years in prison and $10,000 fines.
He was arrested today by agents from the attorney general's office and Pennsylvania State Police and preliminarily arraigned before Senior Magisterial District Judge Robert E. Scott from Westmoreland County who has been assigned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to handle the case.
Ms. Kelly said the investigation continues and asked that any information or leads should be provided to the attorney general's office and Pennsylvania State Police. Potential victims or others with information related to this case are asked to contact investigators from the attorney general at 814-863-1053 or state police at 814-470-2238.
Mr. Sandusky's attorney, Joseph Amendola, said he did not expect a delay in next week's scheduled preliminary hearing as a result of the new charges.
"We always anticipated this," Mr. Amendola said. "It's disappointing. I doubt very much whether they will grant a continuance for us."
Read the grand jury's report on the new allegations against Jerry Sandusky.
First Published December 7, 2011 12:00 am
