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Subscribe to RSSA Penn State accuser who dined with Jerry Sandusky this summer did so only after getting permission from police, the man's lawyer said Friday as he blasted suggestions that alleged victims remained friendly with the former Penn State coach.
"Police gave their seal of approval for him to attend. They even wanted him to wear an electronic listening device," attorney Howard Janet said Friday. He also called into question Sandusky's motives for inviting the man to dinner while the ex-coach knew he was under investigation.
Sandusky has been charged with molesting eight boys over 15 years. He is accused of mining the ranks of his Second Mile charity to find underprivileged boys to abuse.
Sandusky says he is innocent and his lawyer, Joseph Amendola, has questioned several accusers' claims and the depiction of his client made in a grand jury report that identified the alleged victims by number. Earlier this week, Amendola told The Patriot-News of Harrisburg that several accusers visited the Sandusky home and stayed on good terms with the ex-coach for years.
He told The Associated Press on Friday that another dinner guest that night was the man identified in the grand jury report as Victim No. 2, who Sandusky is accused of sodomizing in a Penn State shower.
Janet said another man identified as a victim in the grand jury report attended, but he did not specify who that was. He called Amendola's claim that accusers remained friendly with Sandusky was "grotesque."
Janet represents the man known in the grand jury report as Victim No. 6, who was allegedly bear-hugged by Sandusky as they showered together at Penn State in 1998, when the boy was 11. The boy's mother filed a complaint; a police investigation ended with no charges filed.
The alleged victim, now 24, contacted police this summer when Sandusky invited him over for dinner, Janet said. He didn't wear a wire because he was nervous but reported back to police about the dinner afterward, the lawyer said.
The dinner started at Sandusky's house and then moved to a restaurant, and included Sandusky and his wife.
Janet said Sandusky pitched the dinner as a chance for former Second Mile participants to get together. "Why was he arranging to meet with victims while under investigation? Was he trying to tamper with or improperly influence potential witnesses?" Janet said.
He would not say if the investigation came up in conversation that night, or detail what his client later reported back to police. The client didn't wear a wire because he was nervous, Janet said.
Sandusky's lawyer said the meeting was part of an effort by Sandusky and his wife to maintain "friendships with lots of kids they helped as those kids grew into adulthood."
"The dinner at a local State College restaurant last summer, which was attended by Jerry and Dottie and alleged victims 2 and 6, was simply an effort on the Sanduskys' part to maintain those long established positive relationships with young men whom the Sanduskys believed were their friends," Amendola said.
Victim No. 2 was the boy seen being abused by Sandusky in a Penn State shower in 2002, according to the grand jury report. The witness, since identified as then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary, told coach Joe Paterno about the incident, the report said. Police were never notified.
The grand jury report said the boy had not been located. Amendola has said he believes the alleged victim is being represented by a State College attorney who did not respond to messages left by the AP late Friday.
Penn State fired Paterno and school President Graham Spanier after the report was made public. Two former Penn State officials are charged with failing to report complaints of abuse, and with lying to a grand jury. They have pleaded not guilty.
Sandusky is free on bail, and is next due in court on Dec. 13 for a preliminary hearing.
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Wow. This was clearly an attempt by Sandusky to influence victims whom he knew would probably testify against him.
This guy is a master manipulator.
.
Maybe he just didn't want to leave his friends behind ? hehe
Cranky62-crude really really crude. Funny? Not at all you fool.
Where in the hell is the NCAA and the rest of the press?? !! Does this country have a moral compass left?
This story is already disappearing from the news.
I know the BS about innocent until ... So how about Santa Claus?
I'm guessing PSU even gets a bowl game for their King Football. But they probably should, because they have their priorities right.
All I know for sure is this: If any of my friends found that bast@$*d in the shower with a young boy, he'd have stopped worrying about any district attorney.
Semper Fi
Just for the record, or should I say, "Just The Facts"...homosexuals/gays are not by any definition automatically pedophiles...which happens to be what Sandusky is...a pedophile. That is, he is so far as we know at this point...you know, innocent until proven guilty.
just the facts Clearly, the whole state of PA and all associated with Penn State were in on it. Didn't you get the memo?
We are not forgetting about the horrors inflicted on these children, but flinging this drivel doesn't accomplish anything for them. Go back to Googling "scandals where I can rage without reason or question" for your next topic.
Just The Facts, Read my post above. I don't care whether or not Paterno would still be coaching. If he in fact was told about the abuse and did nothing then he is culpable in my eyes.
As to my reference to 'innocent until proven guilty', that was obviously tongue in cheek...but I guess you missed that.
But my post was about the way you painted all homosexuals as being pedophiles...and they are not. Many pedophiles are otherwise 'straight'...as straight as you can be when you abuse children. Many are married and have families and children of their own.
It seems that you are simply uninformed or homophobic by the sound of your remarks. I personally don't involve myself in people's life choices. I figure that God made all of us, and He will sort it out in the end.
But you are painting a huge number of the population with one broad brush stroke, and it is not fair, and it is not accurate.
All homosexuals are not pedophiles. Likewise, all pedophiles are not homosexuals.
Sandusky is neither gay nor straight. He is a pedophile. All the straight coaches, administrators, security officers that covered it up...... and you know they did... were straight. And Sandusky's wife... how could she not know? The problem here is not gay vs straight... It's the people of the state of Pennsylvania throwing children to the wolves like garbage bags.... because millions in revenue was at stake and the kids were poor anyway so they ment nothing. Exagerating? Did Pennsylvanyia alter its constitution to hide Penn State records?Was the child being molested at the middle/high school told by school administrators to not report his molestation? Was the judge that let Sandusky walk free with no bail a board member of 2nd Mile and had knowledge of the defendant? Yes Yes and Yes... Sandusky is guilty as is his wife as is Joe Paterno as is Peen state as is the Governor of Pennsylvania all Pennsylvanians are guilty..... of being humans.... bad ones at that.
Justie... I will agree with one thing you said. Penn State Boosters are responsible. In 1998 a stadium upgrade needing millions in booster aid was underway. 12 000 seats were added and the skyboxes. So the coverup became a multi-million dollar enterprize. Anyone that pays money to Pedo State for a seat.... or the scum that rents the skyboxes... are guilty of supporting child rapists and the worst coverup in Sports history
Well now.Here is a disturbing bit of news.If it is accurate.Why would victim #2 even want to have dinner with a guy that sodomized him in a shower?Why would any of the victim's go to dinner with this guy?I smell a scandal here for sure.But it's starting to look like blackmail that didn't work.Or that's what it seems.This is why we all need to let this investigation take it course first before we hang this guy for something he really may not have done at all.You never know if this isn't a combined elaborate scheme by several of these (now adults)alleged victim's trying to get money out of PSU and Sandusky.I know alot of you will think I'm crazy but I have seen blackmail perpetrated before.People will do bad things at someone else's expense for monetary gain.Questions: Why did the police that investigated this man in the past unable to get proof or evidence against Sandusky?Why didn't the victim wear the listening device?Was he concerned that it might have proven something that would exonerate Sandusky?What did McQueary really see that night in the shower?Is the janitor that claims he observed Sandusky having oral sex with a victim true?Where is that victim?Even the investigators can not locate this alleged victim.Hopefully,all of these questions will be answered.When they are it will show who is really telling the truth here.I refuse to call anyone a liar until the investigation is thoroughly completed.With the proof and evidence needed to prove someone guilty or innocent.
"Why would victim #2 even want to have dinner with a guy that sodomized him in a shower?Why would any of the victim's go to dinner with this guy?" Ever hear of the Stockholm Syndrome?
Let's say you were sodomized by a local hero at age 11. Let's say that nobody believed your protestations about the guy who sodomized you. Let's say that this continued for years. Would you feel isolated? Would there be only one person who knew the truth, other than yourself? Would that shared truth create some bind between the two of you?
Pedophilia, the sickness that keeps on giving.
Just The Facts, I'd love to get into this 'homosexual' thing that bothers you so much (Something submerged there,eh?)...however, I make it a point to never engage in intellectual battle with an unarmed adversary.
Now shoooo
You are Pennis State.
The facts are that most pedophiles are hetero. Homosexuals make up a smaller percentage of pedophiles than they do of the population as a whole. If anything, being gay makes one LESS likely to be a pedophile. The VAST majority of pedophiles are straight males who take advantage of young girls.
I know it's way too good for this *&$!, but a gun in the mouth would be good about now.