Former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, who died in January, and other top university officials acted with “total disregard” for the children who were sexually abused by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky because of their fear of “bad publicity,” according to a report by the university’s internal investigation on Thursday. The report was released by former FBI director Louis Freeh, who led the investigation and was hired to find out why officials who knew of the child molestation accusations failed to stop Sandusky or report him to the police.
According to the report, Paterno, along with officials Tim Curley, Gary Schultz, and former president Graham Spanier, “repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky’s child abuse from the authorities,” and it blamed the four men for failing to stop Sandusky and protect other children from his harm. Spanier resigned days after Sandusky’s arrest. Curley and Schultz were arrested in connection to the Sandusky case and charged with not reporting an alleged incident of abuse in 2001 after then graduate assistant coach Mike McQueary told them he drew the conclusion that Sandusky was raping a young boy in the football locker room showers. Sandusky was convicted on 45 of 48 counts of child abuse in June and will serve the remainder of his life in prison.
