Penn State access used to lure victims, boy 'was really, really afraid' of Jerry, 1998 abuse in showers shrugged off by police and DA

11/7/11, "Mothers of two of Jerry Sandusky's alleged victims lash out at Penn State officials' handling of scandal," PennLive.com, The Patriot-News, S. Ganim

"Victim One

Victim One met Sandusky through the Second Mile — a charity for needy children that Sandusky started — and quickly got drawn into his world of big-time college football: gifts, trips, sporting events, and hanging out with a guy who seemed to be loved by everyone.

But his mother said it came at a price.

The Patriot-News will not identify either women or their sons in keeping with our policy not to name victims of sexual assault. The mother of Victim One specifically asked that other media respect her request for no more interviews.

She brought the psychologist who has been helping her son cope with the trauma to the interview. Almost from day one, psychologist Michael Gillum has met regularly with the boy and counseled him through the protracted police investigation.

A few weeks before her son broke down and confessed to a principal at Central Mountain High School in Clinton County that he was being molested by Jerry Sandusky —

• a volunteer football coach at his high school —

• his mother began to suspect something was wrong.

First, it was because her son was acting out.

• When she grounded him, she said
  

• Sandusky demanded

• he be able to “take care of it.”

“I said, ‘No way, he’s my kid,’” she said.
Then, her son began asking her about an online database for “sex weirdos.”

“You don’t want to just accuse people of that,” the mother said. “I called the school principal and the guidance counselor and said, if nothing else,

• (Sandusky) he’s taking my son out of classes.

• He’s leaving the school with him. ...

So I asked them to call him into the office and ask [my son] how he felt.

“They did call him to the office that day and I remember [the principal] was in tears and she said, ‘You need to come here right away.’”

Her son, then 15, broke down and told them what happened.

“They told me to go home and think about what I wanted to do, and I was not happy,” she said. “They said I needed to think about how that would impact my son if I said something like that. I went home and got [my son] and we came to [Children and Youth Services] immediately.”

Officials at Central Mountain High School have said they immediately reported the abuse, and Attorney General Linda Kelly praised them for doing the right thing.

The boy’s story would evolve over the next few weeks as he was interviewed by police. That’s not atypical for sex cases involving teens, Gillum said.

“It’s essentially peeling back the layers of an onion,” Gillum said. “Because it’s so humiliating. It’s so much mental anguish. ... They typically want you to know something inappropriate happened, then there was a progression where boundaries were violated.”

But sometimes it takes time for the victim to get it all out.

That’s something Sandusky’s attorney Joe Amendola points to in defense.

He said it appears someone coaxed this victim into embellishing his story because it changed from groping to more graphic sex acts.

Gillum called it a typical defense tactic.

"They will imply ... that I must have led the witness,” he said. “But when you’re specialized in children and adolescent child abuse, you’re trained to make sure you wouldn’t compromise the evidence.”

Victim Six

Victim Six cried when he read the 23-page grand jury presentment released Saturday, his mother said. And not for himself.

“He had no idea how bad it was,” she said. “He was lucky. He only had that one contact with him.”

It allegedly happened in May 1998, following a tour of the football locker rooms.

• Her son and another boy, both 11, shared a shower with Sandusky.

When he got home he said, ‘If you’re wondering why my hair is wet, we took a shower together,’ and ran into his room, his mom recalls.

• She called police.

But after a six-week investigation that included the mother confronting Sandusky in her home as police listened in the other room,

• Sandusky was cleared.

Then-Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar decided there wasn’t enough evidence.

“And you’re going to tell me that Spanier and Paterno weren’t informed of something

• that was that huge that Ray Gricar was in on it

• but Spanier was kept in the dark?” she said.

• “I’m just not that stupid. I’m so upset I just can’t believe it.”

Paterno’s son, Scott, has said that lawyers for Penn State assured him his father was never told about the 1998 report — investigated by university police.

It’s unclear from the presentment if Spanier knew. However, Schultz, who was in charge of the police force, acknowledged knowing about it.

When the mother confronted Sandusky, he said: “I understand. I was wrong. I wish I could get forgiveness. I know I won’t get it from you.

• I wish I were dead,” according the presentment from the grand jury.

An investigator for Children and Youth Services broke the news to the mother: It was all a big mistake, the mother said she was told. The police officer who investigated won’t comment. Neither will the former police chief.

“Jerry Sandusky admitted to my face, he admitted it,” the mother said. “He admitted that he lathered up my son they were naked and he bear-hugged him. If they would have done something about it in 1998, and then again in 2002 — there was two chances

• they dropped the ball and

• I think they should all be held accountable.”...

The only semblance of comfort their family has had in the last three days is from community support.

“At last, my family and I are believed,” she said. “Because

• they tried to make my son and the other boy out to be liars.”...

Finding the courage to come forward was supposed to be the hardest part.

“We expected you just arrest people who do stuff like that,” Victim One’s mom said.

• “We didn’t realize it was going to be this difficult and take this long.”

The three-year investigation eventually ended with a grand jury finding that Sandusky had eight victims — two of them had long-term relationships with Sandusky and

• six involved shared showers in Lasch Building at Penn State,

• which houses the football program.

“I am upset that it took this long, but I also realize that the more people they find, the less impact it’s going to have on my son ... and it’s only going to help everybody else,” the mom said....

When the arrests were announced Saturday, and the family learned that two Penn State officials had known about a prior incident and didn’t report it to police, she flipped out.

“I’m infuriated that people would not report something like that,” she said. “I still can’t believe it. I’m appalled. I’m shocked. I’m stunned. There’s so many words. I’m very mad. They could have prevented this from happening.”

Her son has accused Sandusky of four years of abuse, and it started not long after Curley and Schultz were notified of a abuse report in 2002.

The attorney general has said their inaction allowed Sandusky to molest this boy....

“When I read the indictment, I was very shocked that there was so many people that didn’t do anything ... and there had

• to be more people covering it up, I think,

• for him to get away with it for this long.”

When her son first came forward, every day was a struggle. There was this overwhelming feeling of deception.

• Sandusky was supposed to be a role model.

“In the beginning, it was extremely upsetting. I was so shocked. It got so bad we didn’t know what to do,” she said. “[He] is really, really afraid of Jerry. He told me numerous times

• when he started backing away from him,

• you just can’t tell him no. I said, why not?”

• Her son replied, “You just don’t do that.”

“His attorney was saying how these disadvantaged children, you can’t trust them ... because they come from low income. I don’t think that has any bearing on anything,” she said.

• “I was warned that is what this basically would be about,

• because kids in The Second Mile are basically disadvantaged.”

In the first page of their presentment, grand jurors noted that, too. They accused Sandusky of

• using the charity to find his victims,

• "many of whom were vulnerable due to their social situations.”

“Obviously it’s a price that the brave victim pays,” Gillum said."




via Kim Jones mention on WFAN