Dammit, it's gonna get worse...

[upstater]

Two police officers heard Sandusky confess! Law enforcement chose not to prosecute Sandusky. Law enforcement failed. Why? We don't know yet. The FBI needs to get involved in this case because police usually don't police themselves.

I don't know what the 1998 police investigation did or did not reveal, but it seems that they didn't have enough information to proscecute, or at least didn't pursue it. NOne the less Sanduky was asked to leave. So far that seems to make sense. Who knows what went on behind the scenes...or who had suspicisions...but after the 2002 incident, someone should have done something, in particular McQueary, since he had the most direct knowledge. To me,though, Joe had an obligation to go well beyond notifying the AD...at a minimum, he should have advised McQueary to contact the police, since agian, McQueary was the one who had the direct knowledge of the crime. One might also ask what the hell McQueary's old man was thinking...I can imagine my own father if I came to him with that story...he'd be driving me to the police station, calling 911 on the way...I'd like to think I'd do the same.

His son was 28. It was his son's responsibility. But he went to the father for obvious reasons. The family is friends and neighbors with the Sandusky's, and McQueary went to school -- and was friends with -- Sandusky's children. You have to remember. These people have known one another for over 40 years in a small town.

 

[upstater]

Except, he witnessed probably the most hideous crime imaginable short of murder, maybe even including a cold blooded murder, because the victims here were probably victimized over and over again. Who knows if some of his victims have gone on to drugs or killing themselves over what they have experienced. McQueary was 28 years old. There should have been no calling daddy, and no agreeing to tell Paterno what he saw. An immediate call to police would have ended the torment years earlier.

In regards to Paterno, it is hard for me to fathom that he would allow this to continue to happen. As it is now being reported that Paterno didn't even address Sandusky regarding what McQuary allegedly saw, I could only believe that people at PSU knew about this before then, probably even predating the 1998 incident. I can't believe that preserving the reputation of the school and the program was the motivation for keeping it quiet. These are educated, smart people. They had to have known this would have come out someday, and the longer it went on the worse it would be for the university. Let alone the fact that morally you had a serial rapist of young boys on your campus, using your facilities to commit these acts and no one thought to put a stop to this? Sandusky was ON CAMPUS last week? This makes zero sense to me.

Not addressing Sandusky in 2002 is a smart move, if you expect it is going to be reported to police. The question is why Paterno never followed up as to whether it was.

 

[huskyrob1]

the bottom line is McQueary walked in on a rape and didn't stop it, or report it to the police. what else is there to explain? he said he walked in on Sandusky raping a 10 year old. his first action should have been to protect that 10 year old by kicking the old man's ass around the locker room before calling the police. instead he witness a rape and did nothing to stop it when he very easily could have.

i'm more inclined to give JoePa a pass because we don't know exactly what he knew yet. if all he heard was a rumor and it was investigated and found to have no merit, he did nothing wrong. McQueary witnessed it so there's no question.

I'm not justifying McQueary for not stopping it immediately but think about what he had to consider, he's a 23 or 24 year old graduate assistant who played under Sandusky and knew him as a very powerful and influential guy in the PSU football hierarchy, he also does not hear any screams for help from the boy, all he hears is rythmic slapping sounds coming from the shower so he peeks in to see what it is. I mean what if he breaks it up and the boy denies in Paterno's office that it ever happened? For all he knows Sandusky could coerce the boy into clamming up or even worse, Sandusky paid the boy. I mean who knows. Yes a crime was committed but the fact is the boy or his parents never came forward, what does that suggest? If McQueary stops it, it's possible his budding coaching career at PSU and maybe anywhere could be over. I still think he should be fired for not stopping it but I can see why he didnot stop it and instead chose to tell JOPA about it after the fact.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I'm not justifying McQueary for not stopping it immediately but think about what he had to consider, he's a 23 or 24 year old graduate assistant who played under Sandusky and knew him as a very powerful and influential guy in the PSU football hierarchy, he also does not hear any screams for help from the boy, all he hears is rythmic slapping sounds coming from the shower so he peeks in to see what it is. I mean what if he breaks it up and the boy denies in Paterno's office that it ever happened? For all he knows Sandusky could coerce the boy into clamming up or even worse, Sandusky paid the boy. I mean who knows. Yes a crime was committed but the fact is the boy or his parents never came forward, what does that suggest? If McQueary stops it, it's possible his budding coaching career at PSU and maybe anywhere could be over. I still think he should be fired for not stopping it but I can see why he didnot stop it and instead chose to tell JOPA about it after the fact.

It's called doing the right thing. Turning a blind eye to a 10 year old kid getting corn holed is a crock of shhiittt under any conditons. Riddle me this, who is gonna hire McCreary now?

As my signature line on my work email says, "There's never a wrong time to do the right thing or the right time to do the wrong thing".

Joe Pa deserves to be fired for not reporting it to the police and not following up on a pedophile continuing to have access to children.

McCreary deserves to go to jail. He physically was there and saw what was happening and chose to be a weak coward. No mercy for him on this planet.

 

[ZooCougar]

Not addressing Sandusky in 2002 is a smart move, if you expect it is going to be reported to police. The question is why Paterno never followed up as to whether it was.

Pennstater,

Why would not addressing it ever be considered a smart move? I guess if you're interested in covering up the cover up it is. But are you really apologizing for this?

 

[huskyrob1]

It's called doing the right thing. Turning a blind eye to a 10 year old kid getting corn holed is a crock of shhiittt under any conditons. Riddle me this, who is gonna hire McCreary now?

As my signature line on my work email says, "There's never a wrong time to do the right thing or the right time to do the wrong thing".

Joe Pa deserves to be fired for not reporting it to the police and not following up on a pedophile continuing to have access to children.

McCreary deserves to go to jail. He physically was there and saw what was happening and chose to be a weak coward. No mercy for him on this planet.

I hear ya and you're right, just saying I can see why he acted the way he did and obviously cared more about what's best for McQueary than what was best for the boy when he saw what he saw.

 

[Kgun7]

I think people are placing too much blame on McQueary. To make a corporate comparison he was a mail room guy who reported criminal wrong doing of a senior executive to the CEO and the CEO chose to do nothing. Is it the mail room guys fault that the organization is now destroyed?

McQueary deserves a chance to explain his actions and i'm sure he will get it.

Criminal wrong doing???? This isn't stealing paper clips or surfing the internet during work hours!

A 10 year old boy looked at McQueary and thought "FINALLY THIS IS OVER"!!! ... little did he know McQueary wasn't exactly a mover and a shaker.

Somebody please post the timeline of McQueary's promotions and raises, and correlate that to the events he witnessed. Looks like Paterno had a reason to keep him at Penn State for as long as he did, becuase everyone knows ... he's not exactly a mover and a shaker ...

 

[Chin Diesel]

I think people are placing too much blame on McQueary. To make a corporate comparison he was a mail room guy who reported criminal wrong doing of a senior executive to the CEO and the CEO chose to do nothing. Is it the mail room guys fault that the organization is now destroyed?

McQueary deserves a chance to explain his actions and i'm sure he will get it.

Bad analogy. If you said he was a mail room clerk and saw a senior executive sexually assaulting a 10 year old you'd be more on the mark.

McCreary chose to walk away from a helpless child being sexually assaulted and his only action was to report a watered down, sanitized version to his coach.

May he be sentenced to cleaning the showers in prison.

 

[Husky68]

I'm not justifying McQueary for not stopping it immediately but think about what he had to consider, he's a 23 or 24 year old graduate assistant who played under Sandusky and knew him as a very powerful and influential guy in the PSU football hierarchy, he also does not hear any screams for help from the boy, all he hears is rythmic slapping sounds coming from the shower so he peeks in to see what it is. I mean what if he breaks it up and the boy denies in Paterno's office that it ever happened? For all he knows Sandusky could coerce the boy into clamming up or even worse, Sandusky paid the boy. I mean who knows. If McQueary stops it, it's possible his budding coaching career at PSU and maybe anywhere could be over. I still think he should be fired for not stopping it but I can see why he didnot stop it and instead chose to tell JOPA about it after the fact.

He is a 28 year old graduate assistant. No longer a coach in 2002. Boy, this GA does a lot of thinking in the split seconds it takes to recognize what is going on, let's see a. worries that maybe kid will lie (not sure why it is worse if Sandusky paid the boy); b. stopoping will harm his coaching career; c. whatever else you can come up with. I don't for a nano second see why he didn't stop it.

 

[Chin Diesel]

A final though on this.

I heard a comment on talk radio yesterday on the way home from work that is probably true.

Very seldomly can serial pedophiles act alone. They are usually part of a larger network of pedophiles across many occupational domains. Which means there's more layers to this onion yet to get peeled.

 

[huskyrob1]

He is a 28 year old graduate assistant. No longer a coach in 2002. Boy, this GA does a lot of thinking in the split seconds it takes to recognize what is going on, let's see a. worries that maybe kid will lie (not sure why it is worse if Sandusky paid the boy); b. stopoping will harm his coaching career; c. whatever else you can come up with. I don't for a nano second see why he didn't stop it.

Why? Maybe simple and cowardly greed, at the time he was more concerned what was best for McQueary rather than what was best for the boy.

 

[Husky68]

A final though on this.

I heard a comment on talk radio yesterday on the way home from work that is probably true.

Very seldomly can serial pedophiles act alone. They are usually part of a larger network of pedophiles across many occupational domains. Which means there's more layers to this onion yet to get peeled.

Didn't hear this, but as have been considering all this, it's where I keep ending up.

 

[upstater]

Pennstater,

Why would not addressing it ever be considered a smart move? I guess if you're interested in covering up the cover up it is. But are you really apologizing for this?

I'm saying you go to police. You don't mess with a crime or possible investigation. What if he had tipped off Sandusky and allowed Sandusky to cover his tracks?

You guys are over the top today, I have to say.

 

[metsfan2323]

Bad analogy. If you said he was a mail room clerk and saw a senior executive sexually assaulting a 10 year old you'd be more on the mark.

McCreary chose to walk away from a helpless child being sexually assaulted and his only action was to report a watered down, sanitized version to his coach

You don't know he gave a sanitized version to his coach. Paterno testified that he received a sanitized version, Paterno might be lying, why would anyone believe Paterno at this point? He is probably being conveniently forgetful. McCreary testified he reported what he saw.

If MCreary belongs in jail so do the police officers who knew in 1998. How come nobody is calling for an investigation into the campus police department? The police department covered this up. They had a confession.

 

[huskyjawz]

You don't know he gave a sanitized version to his coach. Paterno testified that he received a sanitized version, Paterno might be lying, why would anyone believe Paterno at this point? He is probably being conveniently forgetful. McCreary testified he reported what he saw.

If MCreary belongs in jail so do the police officers who knew in 1998. How come nobody is calling for an investigation into the campus police department? The police department covered this up. They had a confession.

police department did their job, they investigated and issued a 30 page report to the da. the da decided not to prosecute.

 

[mattp]

with out knowing all the facts it's impossible to say whether the police, or DA failed, but the fact that he had resigned in 1998 leads me to believe enough powerful people knew about what happened that i hope a lot of heads roll as a result of this. how can the DA not prosecute when supposedly Sandusky admitted everything to the kid's parents and begged forgiveness?

 

[J187Money]

True but remember McQueary witnessed this in 2002, the police already investigated Sandusky in 1998 and covered it up. What if McQueary received a threatening phone call? McQueary deserves a chance to explain his actions.

I don't buy your premise at all. But even if I did, he should have gotten as far away from PSU as possible. There ARE other places to work. He did NOT do the right thing.

 

[metsfan2323]

I don't buy your premise at all. But even if I did, he should have gotten as far away from PSU as possible. There ARE other places to work. He did NOT do the right thing.

You don't buy the premise that McQueary deserves a chance to explain himself?

People are absolving the police who had a confession because they moved it up the food chain and the (dead) DA dropped the ball but McQueary moved it up the food chain and he is a bad guy. The police should have kept investigating if they felt the DA made a mistake. Who was the chief of police in 1998? That guy has some explaining to do.

McQueary smells like a scapegoat to me. He testified that he told Paterno exactly what he saw not a sanitized version. The sanitized version story is coming from Paterno's camp. The Paterno camp has no credibility.

I'm not saying McQueary did everything right, i'm just saying I think people are giving him too much blame and he deserves a chance to tell his story. We'll never hear the police story because that will be covered up. They are going to blame the dead DA (so convenient) and wash their hands of it. I call bullshit.

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

They are going to blame the dead DA (so convenient) and wash their hands of it. I call bullshit.

With the way this story is going and how unbelievable it is, I am almost expecting to either have the dead DA show up in person as he comes out of hidding or find out that he was murdered and was burried under the Joe Paterno statue at the stadium. With the way this story has been progressing....those are about the only two stories that might surprise me at this point.

 

[Nostical]

I expect Sandusky will commit suicide.

 

[Husky68]

You don't buy the premise that McQueary deserves a chance to explain himself?

People are absolving the police who had a confession because they moved it up the food chain and the (dead) DA dropped the ball but McQueary moved it up the food chain and he is a bad guy. The police should have kept investigating if they felt the DA made a mistake. Who was the chief of police in 1998? That guy has some explaining to do.

McQueary smells like a scapegoat to me. He testified that he told Paterno exactly what he saw not a sanitized version. The sanitized version story is coming from Paterno's camp. The Paterno camp has no credibility.

I'm not saying McQueary did everything right, i'm just saying I think people are giving him too much blame and he deserves a chance to tell his story. We'll never hear the police story because that will be covered up. They are going to blame the dead DA (so convenient) and wash their hands of it. I call bullshit.

Yeah, McQuery really sounds like a scape goat, is a 28 year old, 230 lb, 6'5" guy who sees a person he recognizes as his neighbor and fathers friend - Sandusky, butt ducking a 10 year old: reaction - run and call daddy. Fast forward 9 years. Kid, no one knows who he is or what happened to him; McQuery has a nice job as full time coach at PSU and has attended fund raisers with Sandusky - that's the scape goat? Don't care related to McQueary the younger if others dropped the ball, this initial fumble was all on him re "confront and stop, not cut and run". He ain't no scapegoat, he is joint and severly responsible with all the other enablers.

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

I expect Sandusky will commit suicide.

No doubt. He knows what his fate will be in prison. He will wait until right before the trial starts and then will commit suicide. The only question is will he 'turn' and give the details of all of his crimes and who was involved with the molestation and cover-up, or will he take that information to his grave. But I agree...this ends up with Sandusky taking his own life.

 

[ctchamps]

with out knowing all the facts it's impossible to say whether the police, or DA failed, but the fact that he had resigned in 1998 leads me to believe enough powerful people knew about what happened that i hope a lot of heads roll as a result of this. how can the DA not prosecute when supposedly Sandusky admitted everything to the kid's parents and begged forgiveness?

I agree. If everyone is arguing Peterno and McQueary should have done more than the Pennsylvania justice system's failure would have to be considered the bigger failure. A grad assistant and a head coach are not trained regarding Sandusky. The justice system specializes in these matters. The cover up did not just take place on the campus. It had to take place in the investigative arenas.

 

[metsfan2323]

Yeah, McQuery really sounds like a scape goat, is a 28 year old, 230 lb, 6'5" guy who sees a person he recognizes as his neighbor and fathers friend - Sandusky, butt ducking a 10 year old: reaction - run and call daddy. Fast forward 9 years. Kid, no one knows who he is or what happened to him; McQuery has a nice job as full time coach at PSU and has attended fund raisers with Sandusky - that's the scape goat? Don't care related to McQueary the younger if others dropped the ball, this initial fumble was all on him re "confront and stop, not cut and run". He ain't no scapegoat, he is joint and severly responsible with all the other enablers.

You left out the part about him telling Paterno. Pretty big omission on your part. And the police knew in 1998, are you angry with them?

 

[ctchamps]

You don't buy the premise that McQueary deserves a chance to explain himself?

People are absolving the police who had a confession because they moved it up the food chain and the (dead) DA dropped the ball but McQueary moved it up the food chain and he is a bad guy. The police should have kept investigating if they felt the DA made a mistake. Who was the chief of police in 1998? That guy has some explaining to do.

McQueary smells like a scapegoat to me. He testified that he told Paterno exactly what he saw not a sanitized version. The sanitized version story is coming from Paterno's camp. The Paterno camp has no credibility.

I'm not saying McQueary did everything right, i'm just saying I think people are giving him too much blame and he deserves a chance to tell his story. We'll never hear the police story because that will be covered up. They are going to blame the dead DA (so convenient) and wash their hands of it. I call bullshit.

I agree. It's easy to go after the faces we're familiar with so I expected the uproar to surround Paterno and McQueary. And they are certainly not blameless. But these guys are not trained in handling these matters. The legal system in 98 is the bigger failure and story imo. Someone influenced the handling of those matters and I doubt it was Paterno. He does not have the resume for that type of operation. I suspect some major booster or Trustee is behind the real activity in all these matters. The media and the public are focusing on the small fish.

 

[HuskyNan]

I'm not a lawyer, but isn't there a law about taking minors across state lines for illegal activities? if the info in the below article is true, how many laws did Sandusky break? Sandusky is sick, sick, sick - I hope he gets locked up for a hundred years.

For the record, I object to the word "tryst" in the article title. If the account is true, it was a rape, not a tryst.

A town in Texas is looking into bringing its own charges against Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach charged with sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years on and around the Penn State campus.

San Antonio police confirmed they are investigating the "possibility that an offense may have happened" while the Penn State team was in Texas for the Alamo Bowl in 1999.

Penn State sex scandal spreads to Texas for alleged Alamo Bowl tryst

 

[CTMike]

Further down the rabbit hole we go...

 

[UCDaveD]

I've heard that Sandusky faces up to 460 years in the clink. If found guilty, I hope he gets sentenced to every single one of those 460.

And no parole after 300 years either.

 

[UConnCat]

I'm not a lawyer, but isn't there a law about taking minors across state lines for illegal activities? if the info in the below article is true, how many laws did Sandusky break? Sandusky is sick, sick, sick - I hope he gets locked up for a hundred years.

For the record, I object to the word "tryst" in the article title. If the account is true, it was a rape, not a tryst.

A town in Texas is looking into bringing its own charges against Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach charged with sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years on and around the Penn State campus.

San Antonio police confirmed they are investigating the "possibility that an offense may have happened" while the Penn State team was in Texas for the Alamo Bowl in 1999.

Penn State sex scandal spreads to Texas for alleged Alamo Bowl tryst

Nan, excellent question. I did a quick search and there is a provision in the federal Mann Act, specifically US Code 18 USC 2423(a), which makes it a federal crime to transport an individual under the age of 18 "with intent that the individual engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, shall be fined under this title and imprisoned not less than 10 years or for life."

There may be other federal laws implicated. I've heard RICO mentioned, but that would arise if evidence indicates a conspiracy to cover up crimes.

The significance of federal involvement -- which you rightly mention in the context of the trip to Texas for the bowl game -- is not the potential penalty, but rather to bring the investigative powers and personnel of the US Dept of Justice to the investigation of Sandusky. It'll be interesting to see whether the DOJ gets involved or leaves it to the state(s).

 

[upstater]

I've heard that Sandusky faces up to 460 years in the clink. If found guilty, I hope he gets sentenced to every single one of those 460.

And no parole after 300 years either.

I hope victims come forward, because I read a lawyer's reaction to the grand jury report in a Pa newspaper and he said that several of the counts won't stick. 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2007 specifically. There's no victim for 2002, 1998 was dropped by the DA for lack of evidence, 200 the janitor is in an advanced state of dementia and can't remember, and 2007 is not pinned down yet either. Maybe the other 4 cases will, but the DA needs more.