Days before the release of a widely anticipated report on Penn State’s role in the child abuse case involving the former football assistant Jerry Sandusky, the family of Joe Paterno released a statement Tuesday questioning the integrity of the inquiry and saying that because it had not been allowed to review the findings, its viewpoint would not be properly reflected.
A group led by Louis J. Freeh, a former director of the F.B.I., is evaluating Penn State’s response to the events that led to Sandusky’s conviction last month on 45 counts of child abuse. The investigation was ordered by the university’s board of trustees, and the report will be released Thursday morning.
“The hiring of the Freeh Group is the single most important action the board of trustees has taken,” the family’s statement said. “Joe supported this decision with the hope that it would result in a thorough, balanced and thoughtful assessment of the Sandusky tragedy. Unfortunately, recent events have raised questions about the fairness and confidentiality of the investigative process.”
The Paterno family was referring to reports about e-mails that appeared to show that Paterno played a greater role than previously thought in Penn State’s handling of a 2001 report that Sandusky sexually assaulted a boy in a shower at a university athletic facility.
Sandusky, who is expected to be sentenced in September, was convicted of sexually assaulting 10 young boys, at least one of them in a Penn State athletic facility. That assault, in 2001, was witnessed by the graduate assistant Mike McQueary, who told Paterno that he had seen Sandusky sexually attacking the boy. Paterno then told university officials. However, top officials of the university at the time did not report the case to the police outside the university.
It was reported last month that e-mail correspondence among senior Penn State officials at the time suggested that Paterno, who died in January, played a role in the university’s decision not to formally report the accusation against Sandusky to child welfare authorities, according to a person with knowledge of aspects of Freeh’s investigation.
The e-mails reportedly cover discussions between Graham B. Spanier, then the university president; Tim Curley, then the athletic director; and Gary Schultz, who was in charge of the campus police, as well as Paterno. Curley and Schultz have been charged with failing to report the matter to the authorities and then lying about it under oath. The family disputed the notion that Paterno tried to protect Sandusky.
“Joe Paterno did not cover up for Jerry Sandusky,” the family’s statement said. “Joe Paterno did not know that Jerry Sandusky was a pedophile. Joe Paterno did not act in any way to prevent a proper investigation of Jerry Sandusky. To claim otherwise is a distortion of the truth.”
Lawyers representing Spanier confirmed Tuesday that he was interviewed last Friday in Philadelphia by investigators. Spanier was removed as Penn State’s president last November.
“At no time in the more than 16 years of his presidency at Penn State was Dr. Spanier told of an incident involving Jerry Sandusky that described child abuse, sexual misconduct or criminality of any kind, and he reiterated that during his interview with Louis Freeh and his colleagues,” the lawyers said in a statement.
A group led by Louis J. Freeh, a former director of the F.B.I., is evaluating Penn State’s response to the events that led to Sandusky’s conviction last month on 45 counts of child abuse. The investigation was ordered by the university’s board of trustees, and the report will be released Thursday morning.
“The hiring of the Freeh Group is the single most important action the board of trustees has taken,” the family’s statement said. “Joe supported this decision with the hope that it would result in a thorough, balanced and thoughtful assessment of the Sandusky tragedy. Unfortunately, recent events have raised questions about the fairness and confidentiality of the investigative process.”
The Paterno family was referring to reports about e-mails that appeared to show that Paterno played a greater role than previously thought in Penn State’s handling of a 2001 report that Sandusky sexually assaulted a boy in a shower at a university athletic facility.
Sandusky, who is expected to be sentenced in September, was convicted of sexually assaulting 10 young boys, at least one of them in a Penn State athletic facility. That assault, in 2001, was witnessed by the graduate assistant Mike McQueary, who told Paterno that he had seen Sandusky sexually attacking the boy. Paterno then told university officials. However, top officials of the university at the time did not report the case to the police outside the university.
It was reported last month that e-mail correspondence among senior Penn State officials at the time suggested that Paterno, who died in January, played a role in the university’s decision not to formally report the accusation against Sandusky to child welfare authorities, according to a person with knowledge of aspects of Freeh’s investigation.
The e-mails reportedly cover discussions between Graham B. Spanier, then the university president; Tim Curley, then the athletic director; and Gary Schultz, who was in charge of the campus police, as well as Paterno. Curley and Schultz have been charged with failing to report the matter to the authorities and then lying about it under oath. The family disputed the notion that Paterno tried to protect Sandusky.
“Joe Paterno did not cover up for Jerry Sandusky,” the family’s statement said. “Joe Paterno did not know that Jerry Sandusky was a pedophile. Joe Paterno did not act in any way to prevent a proper investigation of Jerry Sandusky. To claim otherwise is a distortion of the truth.”
Lawyers representing Spanier confirmed Tuesday that he was interviewed last Friday in Philadelphia by investigators. Spanier was removed as Penn State’s president last November.
“At no time in the more than 16 years of his presidency at Penn State was Dr. Spanier told of an incident involving Jerry Sandusky that described child abuse, sexual misconduct or criminality of any kind, and he reiterated that during his interview with Louis Freeh and his colleagues,” the lawyers said in a statement.