Sandusky was released from custody on Dec. 8 after spending the night in jail. His attorney said he was not informed of the impending arrest, and his client didn’t have time to make $250,000 bail arrangements prior to being picked up by police at his home on Dec. 7.
The new charges involve four counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and two counts of unlawful contact with a minor, allegedly involving two adults who were children at the time of the encounters.
“Today’s criminal charges were recommended by a statewide investigating grand jury, based on evidence and testimony that was received following the initial arrest of Sandusky on Nov. 5,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly said in a statement.
Sandusky also faces one new count of indecent assault and two counts of endangering a child’s welfare.
“As in many of the other cases identified to date, the contact with Sandusky allegedly fit a pattern of ‘grooming’ victims,” Kelly said. “Beginning with outings to football games and gifts; they later included physical contact that escalated to sexual assaults.”
The criminal complaint details the accounts of “victim nine” and “victim ten,” whom Sundusky is alleged to have encountered through his nonprofit organization, “The Second Mile.” One of the accusers states that while being raped in the Sandusky basement by Jerry, the boy screamed for help, hoping Sandusky’s wife Dottie would hear and come to his rescue — but no one ever came.
Mrs. Sandusky issued a statement in which she insists her husband is innocent:
I have been shocked and dismayed by the allegations made against Jerry, particularly the most recent one that a now young man has said he was kept in our basement during visits and screamed for help as Jerry assaulted him while I was in our home and didn’t respond to his cries for help.
As the mother of six children, I have been devastated by these accusations. I am also angry about these false accusations that such a terrible incident ever occurred in my home. …
I continue to believe in Jerry’s innocence and all the good things he has done. Jerry’s many success stories with his Second Mile kids and positive memories of those kids keep me going. I am asking everyone to please be reasonable and open-minded until both sides of this case are heard, and Jerry has the opportunity to prove his innocence.
If it turns out that Jerry is an innocent victim of some kind of evil conspiracy, Dottie Sandusky’s statement will stand as a loving and loyal tribute to her husband, but if the outcomes of these criminal cases show that Jerry Sandusky is guilty of what these young men are accusing him of, his legacy (and, by association, hers) will be one of perversion and unthinkable horror. If he is guilty, many will find it hard to fathom that such atrocities could have occurred in her home over such an extended period of time without her knowledge, and, in regards to her husband, few will care to focus on “all the good things he has done,” nor his “many success stories” with Second Mile kids.
Regardless of the outcome of these cases against Sandusky, one good thing has definitely come of it — more attention has been drawn to the subject of child predators, and more people have become aware of just how vulnerable our children are and how important it is that we protect them from those who would exploit their innocence. –kathleen cross
