Posted: 07/13/2012 at 5:09pm | IP Logged

Findings Show Penn State Callous toward Victims

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CBNnews.com

Penn State's own report on the child molestation scandal is out, and it's not favorable.

The report says university officials, including legendary football coach Joe Paterno, looked the other way and seemed more concerned about the school's reputation and assistant coach Jerry Sandusky than his victims.

Former FBI director and lead investigator into the scandal, Louis Freeh, described the actions of Penn State's top officials as callous and shocking.

"The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized," Freeh said.

Freeh accused the officials of covering up the Sandusky child sex abuse scandal to avoid bad publicity.

"Although concern to treat the child abuser humanely was expressly stated, no such sentiments were ever expressed by them to Sandusky's victims," Freeh said.

Last month, a jury found Sandusky guilty of 45 counts of abusing children.

In Freeh's 267-page report, he blamed the late Paterno, former president Graham Spanier, vice president Gary Schultz, and athletic director Tim Curley.

According to the report, Paterno admitted to learning about an incident in 2001, involving Sandusky and a boy in a shower. He told Curley, instead of calling police, but no one contacted the authorities.

"There's really no new facts involved in this, just some new interpretations that really won't take away from anything that he's done," Jay Paterno, Joe Paterno's son, said.

The attorney for one of Sandusky's victims at his criminal trial also now plans to sue Penn State.

"This was a systemic failure from the bottom to the top," Jeffrey Fritz, attorney for Sandusky victim #4, said.

Penn State leaders are pledging reform.

"An event like this can never happen again in the Penn State University community," Kenneth Frazier, a member of the board of trustees, said. "Judge Freeh's report is both sad and sobering."

Investigators also found Penn State University's board of trustees partially to blame for not holding the leaders accountable.