Jerry Sandusky acknowledged Monday that he used to
shower and “horse around” with young boys, but the former Pennsylvania
State University coach said he had never molested any children.
In
a telephone interview with NBC News’ Bob Costas — his first since his
arrest this month — the former defensive coordinator maintained his
innocence on charges that he sexually assaulted eight youths he met
through his charity, the Second Mile.
“I could say
that I have done some of those things. I have horsed around with kids, I
have showered after workouts. I have hugged them, and I have touched
their legs without intent of sexual contact,” he told Costas in an
interview that aired Monday night. “I shouldn’t have showered with those
kids.”
Asked if he was a pedophile, Sandusky said, “No.”
The
interview came amid heightened scrutiny over the role the Second Mile
may have played over the years — scrutiny, some of the organization
leaders feared, that may force the charity to close its doors.
Two
of the charity’s top executives resigned over the weekend, as critics
continued to question why they failed to stop Sandusky’s work with
children as soon as they learned of abuse allegations against him.
And
criticism of the district judge who released Sandusky on $100,000
unsecured bail has grown since it was learned she was a volunteer with
Second Mile.
Jack Raykovitz, Second Mile’s
president for 28 of its 34 years, stepped down Sunday, saying he hoped
his exit might help restore the community’s faith in the charity.
The
charity’s general counsel, Wendell Courtney, also resigned. Former
Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham will take his place and
lead an investigation into the charity’s response to abuse allegations,
said board vice chairman David Woodle.
“We don’t
know if this organization can be saved,” Abraham said Monday at a news
conference at the Philadelphia offices of her firm, Archer&Greiner.
“What we need to find out is how deep this went, who knew, and who did
or didn’t do anything about it.”
State prosecutors
allege that Sandusky used the Second Mile to gain “access to hundreds
of boys, many of whom were vulnerable due to their social situation.”
In
a 1987 interview with NBC, rebroadcast Monday, he joked that he started
the organization because he enjoyed “being around children.”
“I enjoy their enthusiasm,” he said. “I just have a good time with them.”
In
recent days, both Raykovitz and Courtney have emerged as targets of
criticism for their role in Second Mile and for failing to act quickly
when accusations were raised against Sandusky.
Sandusky
informed the Second Mile board in 2008 that he was under investigation
in the allegedly molestation of a boy at a school in Clinton County
where he worked as a volunteer football coach. He denied that he had
done anything wrong but agreed at the time to stop working with
children.
He resigned from the organization in 2010, saying he needed to focus on his family and personal matters.
But
Penn State athletic director Tim Curley — who is now charged with lying
to the grand jury — told Raykovitz as early as 2002 of earlier claims
of abuse, prosecutors said. According to the grand jury presentment in
Sandusky’s case, a graduate assistant walked in on the former defensive
coordinator that year raping a Second Mile boy in the Penn State
football locker room.
Raykovitz has maintained he
was only told that someone had been made uncomfortable after seeing
Sandusky in the shower with a child.
“At no time
was the Second Mile made aware of the very serious allegations contained
in the grand jury report,” he said in a statement released last week.
Courtney
may have been aware of abuse accusations even earlier, the grand jury
suggested. In 1998, Penn State police opened an investigation into
claims that Sandusky had molested at least two other boys.
No
charges were ever filed, but Courtney — then general counsel to both
Penn State and the Second Mile — reviewed the findings, the presentment
states.
On Monday, Woodle declined to comment on
whether Raykovitz or Courtney had ever expressed concern over Sandusky
to the charity’s board but said that he hoped he would soon have answers
to assure the organization’s donors, program partners, and
participants. The charity’s internal probe is expected to be complete
next month.
“We don’t want to make any decisions in a rush, but we don’t want to take forever,” he said.
Sandusky
founded the Second Mile in 1977 as a group foster home for troubled
boys. It has grown into one of the region’s largest charitable
organizations, with nine offices across the state — including one in
King of Prussia — and assets of nearly $9 million. Its services such as
leadership academies, football camps, and counseling reach more than
100,000 Pennsylvania youths annually.
In State
College, where both Penn State and Second Mile are based, the charity
has become a pillar of the local community. Several school districts in
the region refer their students to its programs. And its volunteer
roster reads like a who’s who of local luminaries.
Leslie A. Dutchcot, the district judge who arraigned Sandusky this month, is a former Second Mile volunteer and donor.
State
Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery, asked Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille
on Monday to review arraignment procedures in light of Dutchcot’s
connection to the charity.
According to the charity’s annual reports, she and her husband donated between $500 and $999 to the organization in 2009.
State
prosecutors pushed Dutchcot during a Nov. 5 hearing to set bail at
$500,000 and impose electronic monitoring that would have limited
Sandusky’s movements to Centre County. But the judge granted the former
defensive coordinator a $100,000 unsecured bond — allowing him to leave
the courtroom that day without putting down any collateral.
Fallout
from the scandal has already taxed Second Mile’s fund-raising ability
and relationship with its clients, and the specter of lawsuits looms
large. The charity also faces the danger of losing its nonprofit status
amid ongoing investigations from the Pennsylvania Department of State
and the Attorney General’s Office, Abraham said.
“The
bottom line is: There has been a lot of good done. Everyone says it,”
said Woodle, the Second Mile vice chairman. “I want to make sure that in
this very difficult time, we continue to support the kids.”
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©2011 The Philadelphia Inquirer
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