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Attorney General Speaks Out in Sandusky Sex Abuse Scandal
Jerry Sandusky
The allegations against 67-year-old Jerry Sandusky, the former defensive coordinator at Penn State, span roughly a decade from the late 1990s through 2009. The 23-page grand jury presentment goes into graphic detail of the alleged sexual assaults of young boys, both while Sandusky was coaching and after his retirement. Attorney General Linda Kelly says they’ve identified six of the eight young victims discussed in the presentment, all of whom Sandusky met through his involvement in The Second Mile, a charity he founded in 1977.
Equally significant to the sexual assault charges Sandusky faces, Kelly says, are the alleged roles of two school administrators charged with perjury and failure to report. “Their inaction likely allowed a child predator to continue to victimize children for many many years,” Kelly says.
Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and Senior Vice President Gary Shultz each face one count of perjury and one count of failure to report.
“This is not a case about football, it’s not a case about universities,” says State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan, “It’s a case about children who have had their innocence stolen from them, and a culture that did nothing to stop it.”
Administrators Arraigned:
Tim Curley
While Sandusky will be prosecuted in Centre County, where the alleged assaults took place, Curley and Shultz will be prosecuted in Dauphin County, where the alleged perjury took place. Both were arraigned in a suburban Harrisburg magistrate’s office Monday afternoon.
Curley’s lawyer, Caroline Roberto, proclaimed her client innocent and says they will vigorously fight the charges in court. She calls perjury prosecutors’ charge of last resort. “They charge it when they can’t prove the person did anything wrong.” Roberto calls the duty to report charge a summary offense, similar to a speeding ticket. Under the law, Roberto says the duty to report didn’t even apply to the situation at Penn State.
Gary Shultz
The Attorney General’s office disagrees. “Given the circumstances here, with information that was provided to top administrators about a sexual assault in the locker room, on the Penn State campus, we feel very confident that those administrators are responsible under the law,” says spokesman Nils Frederiksen.
Paterno Not a Target:
Asked about coach Joe Paterno’s grand jury testimony, Attorney General Linda Kelly says the 84-year-old coach has been cooperative and is not a target at this point. The grand jury report indicates that a grad student who witnessed a sexual assault in 2002 called Paterno to share what he had seen. “We believe that under the statute he had an obligation to report it to school administrators, and he did that,” Kelly says of Paterno’s involvement.
In a statement, Paterno says he’s shocked and saddened by the allegations contained in the grand jury report. “I understand that people are upset and angry, but let’s be fair and let the legal process unfold,” the statement reads. “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.”
The media gathered en masse at Attorney General Linda Kelly's capitol news conference.
Gaming Reforms Scheduled for Committee Action
The 21-recommendations contained in May’s gaming grand jury report have been turned into bill form, and the House Gaming Oversight Committee is scheduled to take up three of them on Monday. One of them is HB 2009, which encompasses grand jury recommendation number 12. It would require the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) to post online a description of all Right-to-Know Law requests it has received, including the number of denied requests and the status of any appeals.
The other bills would require the PGCB to include an agenda from each of its executive sessions in its annual report, and to post a salary matrix for members and employees of the board online. Those two initiatives correspond with grand jury recommendations numbers 12 and 21.
The scathing grand jury report probed Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board activities from 2004 - 2007.
The May grand jury report blasted the Gaming Board for overseeing a political process that neglected or ignored its policy objectives, avoided transparency and failed to protect the public from unlawful gaming practices. The grand jury probed PGCB activities from 2004 – 2007.
Bill Ryan, the new chairman of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, was actually serving as acting Attorney General last spring when his office released that scathing grand jury report. Earlier this month, Ryan told the Gaming Oversight Committee that he will do everything in his power to ensure the public perception of the Gaming Board is changed. “None of the members of the board were on the board during the time that is covered by the grand jury report,” Ryan testified. “I see nothing but seriousness of purpose among every other member of the board.”
An unrelated bill that’s expected to come before the Gaming Oversight Committee, on Monday, would prohibit so-called Internet sweepstakes cafes in the Keystone State. Neighboring Ohio has recently been cracking down on these unlicensed establishments that offer electronic games that look like slot machines, mislead players and exasperate law enforcement.
Grand Jury Report Will Not Gather Dust
A statewide investigating grand jury released its 102-page report on the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on Tuesday. Chairman of the State House Gaming Oversight Committee Curt Schroder (R-Chester) calls the report a “stinging indictment” on the operation of the Gaming Control Board since its inception. Schroder says it is lawmakers’ duty to follow-up. “I intend to hold some hearings on the report after we get the budget out of the way… and then develop legislation accordingly.”
One piece of legislation that’s already passed the House would move the Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement to an independent agency. That move happens to be recommendation #3 of 21 in the grand jury report. “I don’t know how many grand jury reports it’s going to take before the Gaming Control Board, chairman Fajt… as well as the State Senate accepts the verdict out there,” Schroder says, pointing to an earlier Dauphin County grand jury that reached the same conclusion.
In a statement, Gaming Control Board chairman Greg Fajt called it a rehash of “old news.” He defended their successes, and pointed out that after two years of investigation there were no arrests, no presentments and no indictments. “They found no criminal activity because there was, in fact, no criminal activity to be found,” Fajt stated.
But Rep. Schroder says the response gives him no confidence that the PGCB understands the problem, or even accepts that there was or is a problem. “Chairman Fajt can crow all he wants about the fact that there were no indictments. Nonetheless the report found many violations of the law, and many instances of just outright corruption.” Schroder tells us one of the problems is that violations of the gaming law “unfortunately” don’t carry criminal penalties.
Grand Jury Report Criticizes Gaming Control Board
The 102-page document compiled by the 31st Statewide Investigating Grand Jury paints an unflattering picture of the state’s gaming regulators. It cites a political process that neglected or ignored its policy objectives, failed to protect the public from unlawful gaming practices, and avoided transparency. The report includes 21-recommendations ranging from a new venue for the Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement, to a significant overhaul of the current employees of the board, and annual audits.
Gaming Control Board chairman Greg Fajt released a statement calling the report simply a rehash of “old news” at a significant cost to taxpayers. Fajt says the grand jury met for two years and found no criminal activity, because there was none to be found. Fajt recognizes there were “minor missteps along the way,” but notes that the PGCB was the first newly created state agency in 30-years. He maintains the Gaming Board has been a success.
Copies of the report have been delivered to Governor Tom Corbett, all four legislative caucuses, the PA Supreme Court, Auditor General, Treasurer and others.