Jerry Sandusky Case

[Arethusa]

Ex-FBI chief blasts Penn State, Paterno in Sandusky case

By Dave Warner
Reuters feed to YahooNews.com – 9 minutes ago
July 12, 2012

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Penn State leaders including late head football coach Joe Paterno concealed critical facts about former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's child sexual abuse for years, showing a "total disregard" for the safety of his victims, former FBI director Louis Freeh said in a report on Thursday.

Pennsylvania State University trustees hired Freeh and his law firm to investigate the school's handling of the allegations involving Sandusky, 68, who was convicted last month of sexually abusing 10 boys.

"Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State," Freeh said in a statement on the findings of an eight-month investigation.

The report could influence Penn State as it prepares for potential civil lawsuits. The university has already invited victims to try to resolve claims against the school. The report could also shed light on any criminal liability for two university officials charged with perjury and failing to report what they knew about Sandusky. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Sandusky, the defensive coach who helped turn Penn State into a perennial powerhouse under Paterno, was convicted on June 22 of 45 counts of child molestation involving 10 boys over 15 years and awaits sentencing, facing up to 373 years in prison.

The grand jury charges against Sandusky in November prompted the firing of university President Graham Spanier and Paterno, the legendary "JoePa" who won more games than any other major college football coach. Paterno died two months later of lung cancer at age 85.

At the heart of the Freeh probe is how Paterno and other Penn State officials reacted to the story of Mike McQueary, a graduate assistant who told them in 2001 he had seen Sandusky in a sexual position with a boy in a football locker room shower. Neither police nor child protective services was informed.

Failure to alert authorities allowed Sandusky to continue preying on young boys for years, prosecutors said. At least three of Sandusky's 10 known victims were abused in the years after Penn State authorities were told about the 2001 shower incident.

Former Athletic Director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, a former university vice president, face charges of perjury and failure to report suspected abuse in the case.

"Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley never demonstrated, through actions or words, any concern for the safety and well-being of Sandusky's victims until after Sandusky's arrest," Freeh said.

Freeh was a U.S. District judge when former U.S. President Bill Clinton named him to run the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1993. He remained in the post through 2001.

Link: sports.yahoo.com/news/ex-fbi-chief-release-report-penn-state-sex-050125233--nfl.html;_ylt=AjJy.HPYBjzZxR6Sv5WS8uq37ux_;_ylu=X3oDMTVkY2hzMGFrBGNjb2RlA3ZzaGFyZWFnMnVwcmVzdARtaXQDTWl4ZWQgTGlzdCBOZXdzIEZvciBZb3UEcGtnAzNkMmFjNTI2LTIwMjktMzFhMS04MDIyLTAyYTRhNDZmNjM3ZgRwb3MDNwRzZWMDTWVkaWFCTGlzdE1peGVkTmV3c0ZvcllvdUNBVGVtcAR2ZXIDNTZhNDliMzEtY2MyNS0xMWUxLThiYmQtMWEyMzkyMzUyZDQ0;_ylg=X3oDMTJvbnFkM2cyBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNWQ3YzU4MDUtMmY1ZS0zNGVkLTk4ZTMtZDg0NjJkYmY1N2UxBHBzdGNhdANuY2FhZgRwdANzdG9yeXBhZ2U-;_ylv=3


****

Link to PDF of Freeh Report - Click on "PDF" icon at this site to access:

www.publicopiniononline.com/ci_21058919/read-freeh-report-full


Arethusa

[Arethusa]

Without undertaking its own investigative and hearing process and using the Freeh Report instead, the NCAA has sanctioned Penn State for conduct in covering up Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of children on its premises by levying a $60 Million fine, eradicating all wins by the Nittany Lions from 1998 through 2011, and eliminating scholarships to students recruited to play on the team, among other penalties.

These extensive sanctions appear designed to erase any and all benefits to the team, the University and to Paterno, among others, from their failure to assure the well-being and safety of Sandusky's child victims dating from 1998 - which had the effect of exposing more children to the crimes of Sandusky going forward to his arrest in November of 2011.

Apparently mindful of the potential heaviness of the fine and destructiveness to its football program during the next four years, as well as the civil liability the school faces besides, Penn State removed the "Joe Pa" statue from Beaver Stadium yesterday.

The NCAA is also allowing students recruited to play football at PSU this Fall their freedom to transfer elsewhere at will.

This extensive piece from ESPN.com elaborates thoroughly on other ramifications of the NCAA's action earlier today.


Penn State sanctions: $60M, bowl ban

July 23, 2012
ESPN.com

The NCAA has hit Penn State with a $60 million sanction, a four-year football postseason ban and a vacation of all wins dating to 1998, the organization said Monday morning.

The career record of former head football coach Joe Paterno will reflect these vacated records, the statement continued.

Penn State must also reduce 10 initial and 20 total scholarships each year for a four-year period, the release said.

The NCAA revealed the sanctions as NCAA president Mark Emmert and Ed Ray, the chairman of the NCAA's executive committee and Oregon State's president, spoke at a news conference in Indianapolis at the organization's headquarters.


Biggest Postseason Bans

Penn State was hit with a four-year postseason ban from the NCAA on Monday. The penalties also include a $60 million fine and vacation of wins dating to 1998. Here's a list of the longest postseason bans for FBS programs since 1960. No team has ever received a five-year ban.

Other FBS Programs To Receive At Least a 3-Year Postseason Ban Since 1960:

Indiana 1960 4 years
• Improper recruiting inducements
Oklahoma St. 1989 3 years
• Improper financial aid, extra benefits
Michigan St. 1976 3 years
• Extra benefits, improper recruiting entertainment
Houston 1966 3 years
• Extra benefits, improper recruiting entertainment
-- Source: NCAA Major Infractions Database

"In the Penn State case, the results were perverse and unconscionable," Emmert said.

"No price the NCAA can levy with repair the damage inflicted by Jerry Sandusky on his victims," he said, referring to the former Penn State defensive coordinator convicted of 45 counts of child sex abuse last month.

The NCAA said the $60 million was equivalent to the average annual revenue of the football program. The NCAA ordered Penn State to pay the penalty funds into an endowment for "external programs preventing child sexual abuse or assisting victims and may not be used to fund such programs at the university."

With the wins from 1998-2011 vacated, Paterno drops from 409 wins to 298, dropping him from first to 12th on the winningest NCAA football coach list. Penn State will also have six bowl wins and two conference championships erased.

The Penn State athletic program will also be put on five-year probation and must work with an athletic-integrity monitor of NCAA's chosing.

"There is incredible interest in what will happen to Penn State football," Ray said at the news conference. "But the fundamental chapter of this horrific story should focus on the innocent children and and the powerful people who let them down."

The NCAA's announcement followed a day after Penn State removed Joe Paterno's statue outside Beaver Stadium, a decision that came 10 days after a scathing report by former FBI director Louis J. Freeh found that Paterno, with three other top Penn State administrators, had concealed allegations of child sexual abuse made against Sandusky.

The Freeh report concluded their motive was to shield the university and its football program from negative publicity.

The NCAA took unprecedented measures with the decision to penalize Penn State without the due process of a Committee on Infractions hearing, bypassing a system in which it conducts its own investigations, issues a notice of allegations and then allows the university 90 days to respond before a hearing is scheduled.

Following the hearing, the Infractions Committee then usually takes a minimum of six weeks, but it can take upwards of a year to issue its findings.

But in the case of Penn State, the NCAA appeared to use the Freeh report -- commissioned by the school's board of trustees -- instead of its own investigation.

"We cannot look to NCAA history to determine how to handle circumstances so disturbing, shocking and disappointing," Emmert said in the statement. "As the individuals charged with governing college sports, we have a responsibility to act.

These events should serve as a call to every single school and athletics department to take an honest look at its campus environment and eradicate the 'sports are king' mindset that can so dramatically cloud the judgment of educators."

NCAA Division I Board of Directors and/or the NCAA Executive Committee granted Emmert the authority to punish through the nontraditional methods.

"It was a unanimous act," Ray said. "We needed to act."

Penn State athletics had been given no indication from the NCAA about what sanctions or penalties were to be levied on the department and football program, a source with direct knowledge of the situation in State College told ESPN.com's Andy Katz on Sunday night.

If this were a traditional infractions case, the athletic department would have known up to 24 hours in advance.

A trustee said Penn State has hired Gene Marsh, a lawyer for Lightfoot, Franklin & White in Birmingham, Ala., and a former member and chair of the NCAA Infractions Committee. Last week, ESPN contacted Marsh, who also previously represented former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, and he refused to confirm or deny he had been retained by Penn State.

A former Committee on Infractions chairman and current Division I Appeals Committee member told ESPN.com's Katz on Sunday the NCAA's penalizing of an institution and program for immoral and criminal behavior also breaks new ground.

The former chair, who has been involved with the NCAA for nearly three decades, said he couldn't use his name on the record since the case could come before him and the committee he still serves on in an appeals process.

"This is unique and this kind of power has never been tested or tried," the former chair said. "It's unprecedented to have this extensive power. This has nothing to do with the purpose of the infractions process. Nevertheless, somehow (the NCAA president and executive board) have taken it on themselves to be a commissioner and to penalize a school for improper conduct."

The chair said that the NCAA was dealing with a case that is outside the traditional rules or violations. He said this case does not fall within the basic fundamental purpose of NCAA regulations.

"The purpose of the NCAA is to keep a level playing field among schools and to make sure they use proper methods through scholarships and etcetera," the chair said. "This is not a case that would normally go through the process.

It has nothing to do with a level playing field. It has nothing to do with whether Penn State gets advantages over other schools in recruiting or in the number of coaches or things that we normally deal with."

The NCAA, the chair said, had never gotten involved in punishing schools for criminal behavior.

"The criminal courts are perfectly capable of handling these situations," the former chair said. "This is a new phase and a new thing. They are getting into bad behavior that are somehow connected to those who work in the athletic department.

"This is an important precedent. And it should be taken with extreme care."

Under NCAA rules covering postseason bans, players are allowed to transfer without sitting out a season as long as their remaining eligibility is shorter than or equal to the length of the ban. Only seniors could transfer and play immediately under a one-year ban, but a two-year ban would mean seniors and juniors could both transfer without penalty.

The NCAA, heavily criticized for its sometimes-ponderous pace in deciding penalties as scandals mounted at Ohio State, Auburn, USC and elsewhere, acted with unprecedented swiftness in arriving at the sanctions for a team that is trying to start over with a new coach and a new outlook.

Emmert had put the Penn State matter on the fast track. Other cases that were strictly about violating the NCAA rulebook have dragged on for months and even years. There was no sign that the infractions committee so familiar to college sports fans was involved this time around as Emmert moved quickly, no doubt aided by the July 12 release of the report by former FBI director Louis Freeh and what it said about Paterno and the rest of the Penn State leadership.

The investigation focused partly on university officials' decision not to go to child-welfare authorities in 2001 after a coaching assistant told Paterno that he had seen Sandusky sexually abusing a boy in the locker room showers. Penn State officials already knew about a previous allegation against Sandusky by that time, from 1998.

The leaders, the report said, "repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky's child abuse from authorities, the university's board of trustees, the Penn State community and the public at large."

Sandusky is awaiting sentencing after being convicted last month of sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years.

Emmert had warned Penn State last fall that the NCAA would be examining the "exercise of institutional control" within the athletic department, and said it was clear that "deceitful and dishonest behavior" could be considered a violation of ethics rules. So, too, could a failure to exhibit moral values or adhere to ethics guidelines.

The Freeh report also said school had "decentralized and uneven" oversight of compliance issues -- laws, regulations, policies and procedures -- as required by the NCAA.

Recent major scandals, such as improper payments to the family of Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush while he was at Southern California, and players at Ohio State trading memorabilia for cash and tattoos, have resulted in bowl bans and the loss of scholarships.

Paterno won 409 games for the school in his 46 seasons as head coach.

Link: espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8191027/penn-state-hit-60-million-fine-4-year-bowl-ban-wins-dating-1998

Arethusa