BENNER TOWNSHIP -- Jerry Sandusky, charged last month with sexual abuse of eight boys over 15 years, was arrested at his College Township home Wednesday and jailed on new charges he sexually abused two other boys.
The former Penn State football coach was arraigned Wednesday on 12 counts -- nine felonies and three misdemeanors -- by out-of-county Senior District Judge Robert E. Scott in the office of District Judge Daniel Hoffman. In handcuffs and wearing a Penn State wrestling jacket, Sandusky was taken to the Centre County Correctional Facility and incarcerated on $250,000 straight bail.
His attorney, Joe Amendola said he was working on arranging bail so Sandusky can be released. If that happens, Scott ordered that Sandusky wear an electronic monitoring device and be on house arrest.
The new charges filed by the Attorney General’s Office are: four felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with someone younger than 16; one felony and one misdemeanor count of indecent assault; two felony counts of unlawful contact with a minor; two misdemeanor counts of corruption of minors; and two felony counts of endangering the welfare of children.
Amendola said Sandusky continues to maintain that he is innocent.
Amendola said the new charges will be included in the preliminary hearing on the previous charges, scheduled to take place Tuesday in Bellefonte. The latest charges bring the total number of counts against Sandusky to 52.
The latest charges stem from grand jury testimony from two men who said they were boys when Sandusky allegedly abused them. In a presentment issued Wednesday by the grand jury, they’re identified only as “Victim 9” and “Victim 10.”
Both boys met Sandusky through programs of The Second Mile, the non-profit for at-risk youth Sandusky founded in 1977. David Woodle, vice chairman of The Second Mile board who is now running its day-to-day operations, would not comment on the latest charges when contacted Wednesday.
According to the presentment, the ninth alleged victim met Sandusky met Sandusky in 2004 at Second Mile camp, and participated in Second Mile programs through 2008. Sandusky took the boy, who’s now 18, to Penn State football games, gave him gifts and had him spend the night at his house, the presentment states.
During those stays at Sandusky’s home, the alleged victim testified, behavior he originally took as affection -- hugging, rubbing, cuddling and tickling – escalated to sexual assaults. Sexual acts also took place in the swimming pool and Jacuzzi of a State College area hotel.
During Sandusky’s bail hearing Wednesday afternoon, prosecutor Joe McGettigan told Judge Scott that Sandusky had talked to the alleged victim by phone and in person after the first set of charges were announced Nov. 5.
The 10th alleged victim testified he got involved with the Second Mile in 1997 when he was 10. He told the grand jury he never spent the night at Sandusky’s home, but that he attended football games and tailgates with Sandusky’s family.
“As in many of the other cases identified to date, the contact with Sandusky allegedly fit a pattern of ‘grooming’ victims,” Attorney General Linda Kelly said in a statement. “Beginning with outings to football games and gifts, they later included physical contact that escalated to sexual assaults.”
The presentment states that Sandusky performed oral sex on the boy in his basement and that Sandusky indecently touched him at Penn State’s outdoor pool. The boy distanced himself from Sandusky after refusing a request by Sandusky for oral sex during a car ride.
The victim may be the same person who reported to Penn State police on Nov. 16 that he’d been the victim of a sexual assault at a campus outdoor swimming pool dating back to 2000. The report was referred to the Attorney General’s Office.
Amendola said he had no warning that his client would be arrested Wednesday, had not had an opportunity to review the latest charges and couldn’t comment on them.
“I have no reason to doubt what he’s maintained from the outset of the first allegation involving accuser No. 1,” Amendola said.
McGettigan asked Scott to set Sandusky’s bail at $1 million, saying the charges were “serial” and “serious” in nature and that Sandusky was a flight risk and a danger to the community.
Amendola said it’d be “terribly unfair” to jail Sandusky for past alleged activity that doesn’t indicate Sandusky is currently a danger to the community. He also disputed the notion his client is a flight risk, saying Sandusky surrendered to authorities when the first set of charges were filed Nov. 5.
As a condition of bail, Sandusky is prohibited from having contact with anyone younger than 18.
ON THE WEB
Grand Jury presentment on Jerry Sandusky, 12/7/11
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