Paterno says all at Penn State were fooled by Sandusky

Joe Paterno said Sunday he behaved responsibly when he told Pennsylvania State University officials that his former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, had been seen showering with a young boy in 2002. He said he didn't know Sandusky allegedly had abused the child.

"If this is true, we were all fooled, along with scores of professionals trained in such things," Paterno said in a statement, his first since Sandusky's arrest Saturday on charges of molesting eight boys between the mid-1990s and 2008.

"While I did what I was supposed to with the one charge brought to my attention, like anyone else involved, I can't help but be deeply saddened these matters are alleged to have occurred," he said.

Penn State trustees gathered in executive session at the Old Main administration building Sunday night. Several declined to talk to reporters upon leaving, but said university president Graham Spanier would make a statement Monday.

After two decades as defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions, Sandusky retired in 1999 but kept an office and privileges at the Lasch football complex on campus. That's where prosecutors say several assaults occurred, typically with boys Sandusky had met through a foundation he launched to serve underprivileged children.

Two top university officials, athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president Gary Schultz, have been accused of covering up one of the alleged attacks. They are charged with perjury and failure to report an incident of child sex abuse.

Sandusky and the university officials have denied all charges.

Thomas J. Farrell, an attorney for Schultz, told the Associated Press that a state law requiring school officials to report suspected child abuse did not apply to a Penn State administrator. He said it applied to people who have direct contact with children. Sandusky's arrest followed a multiyear investigation that raised questions not only about his behavior but about the behavior of a roster of others who were allegedly aware of it - a high school principal, foundation executives, the university president, the school's lawyer, an assistant coach, even janitors.

"What's apparent when you read the grand jury report was just how often the red flags didn't go up for folks," said Cathleen Palm, executive director of Protect Our Children, a statewide coalition of advocacy groups.

Amid a national firestorm of attention on the case, state Attorney General Linda Kelly has scheduled a news conference Monday.

A state senator called Sunday for the university's board of trustees to launch its own investigation.

"The board of trustees needs to get hold of it so that they can get to the bottom of it, take whatever action is necessary," said Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, (R., Dauphin), head of the state Senate Education Committee. "That would go a long way in helping to ensure the reputation of the university."

The 23-page grand jury presentment portrayed Sandusky, 67, as a serial predator who picked his victims through the Second Mile, the charity he founded in 1977. He resigned from the organization last year as the criminal investigation was intensifying.

The grand jury report described multiple instances in which Sandusky gave gifts to boys, one as young as 8, took them to football games, and hosted them on overnight visits to his house. Ultimately, prosecutors say, he coaxed or forced the boys into sex acts, including oral and anal sex.

Sandusky's conduct drew scrutiny as early as 1998.

That year, the university police launched an investigation after the mother of an 11-year-old boy complained that Sandusky had showered on campus with her son, the report said.

In a telephone conversation, which the boy's mother let university police monitor, Sandusky said, "I was wrong" and apologized to her, the grand jury report said.

"I wish I were dead," the report quoted him as saying.

The Centre County district attorney and state Department of Public Welfare investigators also reviewed the allegations but brought no charges.

Jerry Lauro, the former Welfare Department investigator who handled the 1998 case, declined to discuss the details on Sunday, but said: "Allegations are one thing. Making a founded case is another thing."

A year after those allegations, Sandusky resigned as the team's defensive coordinator. He said he wanted to devote more time to the Second Mile.

Started as a group foster home for wayward boys, the organization now maintains seven offices statewide. It claims to serve more than 280,000 youths a year through a sports card program called Nittany Lions Tips, in which Penn State athletes offer advice. It also hosts a summer camp on the campus.

The Second Mile also pays the university $120,000 a year for food and lodging, according to its tax filings.

Sandusky took a salary as a consultant and served as a mentor to boys in the program. But he still frequented the campus and Lasch football complex, often with boys.

In 2000, according to the grand jury, a janitor at the complex went to his boss, shaken one night after seeing Sandusky performing a sex act on a boy he estimated to be between 11 and 13.

The shift supervisor testified that the janitor, Jim Calhoun, was so distraught he feared Calhoun "was going to have a heart attack." Calhoun and his fellow workers were all new employees and feared they might lose their jobs if they reported the alleged incident to authorities. So they did not.

Two years later, assistant coach Mike McQueary allegedly told his father that he saw Sandusky rape a boy as young as 10 in the locker room shower one Friday night, the grand jury report says. (McQueary's father, John McQueary, declined to comment Sunday.)

The next morning, McQueary told Paterno what he saw, the grand jury said.

In his statement, Paterno said he recalled the assistant telling him about "inappropriate conduct," not a sex attack.

"It was obvious that the witness was distraught over what he saw, but he at no time related to me the very specific actions contained in the grand jury report," Paterno said. "As Coach Sandusky was retired from our coaching staff at that time, I referred the matter to university administrators."

Prosecutors say Curley and Schultz interviewed the assistant football coach who allegedly saw Sandusky and the boy in the shower but never reported the matter to authorities. Instead, they say, Curley told Sandusky he could no longer bring boys to the football complex.

According to the grand jury report, Curley and Schultz told Paterno, Spanier, and Second Mile executive director John Raykovitz about the allegations and their response.

The grand jury report also describes activity away from campus. As a volunteer coach at a Clinton County high school, Sandusky would regularly meet privately in rooms with one particular Second Mile boy he was mentoring. One day, a wrestling coach saw Sandusky and a teen lying together on a locker room floor, the grand jury said.

An assistant principal, Steven Turchetta, told the grand jury Sandusky would get "clingy" and "needy" with the boys and get into shouting matches with boys he wanted to spend more time with.

Sandusky allegedly molested that Clinton County teen 20 times.

Sunday night, a small group of students stood outside Old Main, protesting Spanier's behavior.

The students held signs that said, "Tonight I am Ashamed of PSU," and, "PSU can't hide behind the helmet."

Paterno, in his statement, said: "I understand that people are upset and angry, but let's be fair and let the legal process unfold.

"In the meantime," he said, "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."

"If true, the nature and amount of charges made are very shocking to me and all Penn Staters. While I did what I was supposed to with the one charge brought to my attention, like anyone else involved, I can't help but be deeply saddened these matters are alleged to have occurred.

"Sue and I have devoted our lives to helping young people reach their potential. The fact that someone we thought we knew might have harmed young people to this extent is deeply troubling. If this is true, we were all fooled, along with scores of professionals trained in such things, and we grieve for the victims and their families. They are in our prayers.

"As my grand jury testimony stated, I was informed in 2002 by an assistant coach that he had witnessed an incident in the shower of our locker room facility. It was obvious that the witness was distraught over what he saw, but he at no time related to me the very specific actions contained in the grand jury report. Regardless, it was clear that the witness saw something inappropriate involving Mr. Sandusky. As Coach Sandusky was retired from our coaching staff at that time, I referred the matter to university administrators.

"I understand that people are upset and angry, but let's be fair and let the legal process unfold. 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."

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Inquirer staff writers Emily Kaplan, Jake Kaplan, and Chris Ryan contributed to this article.