Paterno, Penn State Allegedly knew about Sandusky in 1976

[AFJF]

Makes a bad situation even worse.  I don't see any way PSU isn't forever known for Sandusky above everything else.

 

 

http://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/05/court_filing_says_joe_paterno.html

A new bombshell dropped in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal Thursday.

It came in the form of a single line in a court order on a related insurance coverage case involving Penn State, and its full ramifications can't immediately be gauged.

But that line was eye-popping in itself.

The line in question states that one of Penn State's insurers has claimed "in 1976, a child allegedly reported to PSU's Head CoachJoseph Paterno that he (the child) was sexually molested by Sandusky."

The order also cites separate references in 1987 and 1988 in which unnamed assistant coaches witnessed inappropriate contact between Sandusky and unidentified children, and a 1988 case that was supposedly referred to Penn State's athletic director at the time.

All, the opinion states, are described in victims' depositions taken as part of the still-pending insurance case, but that, according a PennLive review of the case file, are apparently under seal.

"There is no evidence that reports of these incidents ever went further up the chain of command at PSU," Judge Gary Glazer wrote, in determining that because Penn State's executive officers - its president and trustees - weren't aware of the allegations, he would not bar claims from that time frame from insurance coverage.

The insurance case involves big money for Penn State, which hopes to be reimbursed for most of the $60 million-plus it has paid in recent years to settle nearly 30 civil claims pertaining to abuse by Sandusky.

Other sections of Glazer's pre-trial order Thursday held that the university cannot claim coverage for Sandusky settlements for abuses started between 1992 and 1999 because of specific provisions in policies written in those years excluding claims of sexual abuse.

But it is the Paterno allegation that is eye-popping, because of the unending national conversation and curiosity over how much the late and legendary Penn State coach may have known about Sandusky's actions during their lengthy careers together.

Sandusky, who was convicted in 2012 of the serial sexual abuse of 10 different boys he came to know through his Second Mile youth charity between 1994 and 2008, was a key part of Paterno's coaching staff from 1969 through 1999.

Parts of Penn State nation still are deeply divided over questions like whether Paterno was wrongly fired in the wake of Sandusky's November 2011 arrest, and whether the coach's Beaver Stadium statue - taken down in the summer of 2012 - should be reinstalled there or somewhere else on the campus.

Paterno's family, and by extension its legions of loyalists, have argued vehemently that Joe Paterno and the larger Penn State community were deceived by the Sandusky, whom they have argued - with a consultant's help - was a master deceiver and manipulator.

And they also disputed the claim in the current case Thursday evening in the strongest possible terms.

"Over the past four-and-a-half years Joe Paterno's conduct has been scrutinized by an endless list of investigators and attorneys," the Paterno family's attorney, Wick Sollers, said in a statement.

"Through all of this review there has never been any evidence of inappropriate conduct by Coach Paterno. To the contrary, the evidence clearly shows he shared information with his superiors as appropriate.

"An allegation now about an alleged event 40 years ago, as represented by a single line in a court document regarding an insurance issue, with no corroborating evidence, does not change the facts. Joe Paterno did not, at any time, cover up conduct by Jerry Sandusky."

PennLive reached out to Steven Engelmyer, the lead attorney for Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association Insurance Co., which is arguing in the current case in Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas that it has no duty to reimburse Penn State for more than $60 million in Sandusky-related civil settlements that the university has paid to date.

Engelmyer declined comment when reached Thursday.

Others, including Penn State's independent Sandusky investigator Louis Freeh, have alleged that, at least from 1998 on, Paterno, then-Penn State President Graham Spanier and two of Spanier's top managers were aware of complaints against and about Sandusky.

In a pending criminal case, Spanier, former athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president for business and finance Gary Schultz are accused of failing to report a specific allegation of abuse by Sandusky in 2001 that a then-graduate assistant had reported directly to Joe Paterno.

Paterno, who died in January 2012, was never charged with any crimes.

As Sollers pointed out in his statement, however, it was Paterno who actually referred the graduate assistant in the 2001 case, Mike McQueary, to Curley and Schultz.

But Freeh's report also cited emails from that time frame that raised the suggestion Paterno may have been part of a later decision not to take the McQueary report to police or child welfare authorities.

Attempts to reach prosecutors who worked the Sandusky case were also unsuccessful Thursday evening. 

It is worth noting that many of the people who presented civil claims to Penn State only started to come forward after the completion of Sandusky's criminal trial in June 2012. Freeh's report was issued the following month.

The allegation contained in Glazer's ruling drew immediate puzzlement and uncertainty from some of Paterno's most loyal supporters at Penn State Thursday, and a muted reaction from the university itself.

Trustee Anthony Lubrano, a Paterno loyalist who has worked tirelessly with alumni allies to try to "correct the record" in the Sandusky case, said he was "not even peripherally aware" of the 1976 claim about Paterno.

But, he added, "I am highly doubtful about the veracity of the allegation."

Penn State spokesman Lawrence Lokman said university officials who have worked on the legal cases radiating from the Sandusky scandal were aware of the allegations, broadly, contained in the insurance case.

"Many, many people, potential victims and victims have come forward to the university as part of that (settlement) process," Lokman said. "We do not talk about their specific circumstances."

Lokman also would not say whether the 1976 incident raised in the PMA case was one of the 30 or so that have resulted in monetary settlements.

As Glazer's ruling in the insurance reimbursement case,, Lokman noted it is ot the last word in the case.

"We are analyzing the decision," Lokman said. "It does not mean the university will not recoup amounts spent in responding to the Sandusky victims. It is a complicated process that is not complete."

[AFJF]

Looks like Connor Hughes thinks it's legit

 

[TuscanyTile2]

Do some research on the Sandusky pedo thing.  It's possible it reached up into powerful political figures.  Penn State prez Graham Spanier got a job working for the Feds.  That could potentially give him cover to not have to speak about the Sandusky stuff.  Who knows who he's covering up for.  Something might well be even more rotten about this case than we already know. 

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/post/graham-spaniers-gig-as-a-federal-worker-is-a-mystery/2012/07/26/gJQAbAx5BX_blog.html

Spanier was faulted in an internal Penn State report after the conviction on child-molestation charges of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The report said he, head coach Joe Paterno and others helped cover up Sandusky’s abuse.

His lawyer confirms to the Loop that Spanier is working on a part-time consulting basis for a “top-secret” agency on national security issues. But the gig is so hush-hush, he couldn’t even tell his attorneys the name of the agency. In April — months after his ouster as president but before the release of the internal report — he told the Patriot-News of central Pennsylvania that he was working on a “special project for the U.S. government relating [to] national security.”

================================================================

 

 

[TuscanyTile2]

Whoa, another development today:

Former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky granted appeals hearing

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/25578453/former-penn-state-coach-jerry-sandusky-granted-appeals-hearing

[pdxgreen]

I think it's ironic that a head investigator of the Sandusky case "disappeared" before the scandal came out. His laptop was found in a river with the drives erased. That whole university is awash in delusion and a sick past.

[AFJF]

Absolutely disgusting....I had so much respect for Paterno for so many years.  I mean, who didn't?  The guy was an icon.  Then stuff like this comes comes out?  I was thinking about going to a PSU game this season just because it's local(ish).  No way I'd ever set foot in that place knowing how widespread the cover up was.  

[TuscanyTile2]

4 minutes ago, pdxgreen said:

I think it's ironic that a head investigator of tge Sandusky case "disappeared" before the scandal came out. His laptop was found in a river with the drives erased. That whole university is awash in delusion and a sick past.

 

I didn't even hear about that one.  Geez.

[pdxgreen]

I didn't even hear about that one.  Geez.

Yeah. It wasn't really connected to the Sandusky case by the media. And the prosecutor wasn't interviewed about what he knew but his office was investigating the complaints. What's scary is that his last Internet search was about how to clean a computer's memory. Whether he found a trail of evidence and was murdered or disappeared for something unrelated we'll never know. But the truth in the Sandusky scandal might have died with him.

[TuscanyTile2]

1 minute ago, pdxgreen said:

Yeah. It wasn't really connected to the Sandusky case by the media. And the prosecutor wasn't interviewed about what he knew but his office was investigating the complaints. What's scary is that his last Internet search was about how to clean a computer's memory. Whether he found a trail of evidence and was murdered or disappeared for something unrelated will never know. But the truth in the Sandusky scandal might have died with him.

Wow even more interesting/disturbing.  The mainstream media is so phony anyway.  Who actually discovered this?  The alt-media? 

[pdxgreen]

Wow even more interesting/disturbing.  The mainstream media is so phony anyway.  Who actually discovered this?  The alt-media? 

Well. I believe it wasn't really picked up by the media was because the cases weren't related. The person authorities believe did it has no connection with Penn State. But the timing and lack of evidence and just the fact the county lost its legal watchdog before the Sandusky case.... well, it reads like a conspiracy.

[jmat321]

Outstanding for us.  Especially when Mehta asks hack about it at the minicamp this weekend.  Hack gives a political answer, then Mehta writes a Mehta piece.  Can't wait.

[TuscanyTile2]

9 minutes ago, pdxgreen said:

Well. I believe it wasn't really picked up by the media was because the cases weren't related. The person authorities believe did it has no connection with Penn State. But the timing and lack of evidence and just the fact the county lost its legal watchdog before the Sandusky case.... well, it reads like a conspiracy.

Yeah I would say so.  Where there's smoke...

[Mainejet]

If Paterno knew about it and did nothing, then he deserved to be fired. However, in the actual incident, I believe he did nothing wrong. He reported it up the chain of command and that is exactly what he was obligated to do. I feel awful for those children and their parents, but at the end of the day sometimes things do not go as seemless as you would want them to. In this case that's true. But I still think firing an 80 year old man that actually did what he was required to do is wrong.

In regards to this allegation from 1976, lets see what happens. I really would rather not piss on a legendary coaches grave when the fact is, he could be innocent.

[#27TheDominator]

I bet Louis Freeh loves being referred to as "Penn State's independent Sandusky investigator"

[win4ever]

Universities are multi-million (if not close to billion) dollar businesses with many connections.  They will always try to cover up, when they can.  Its pretty disgusting what went on, but I think Paterno failed as the face of the university, so I don't really care if his legacy is tarnished.