Judge: PSU officials to go to trial

HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 16 (UPI) -- A judge ruled Friday there is enough evidence to bring two former Penn State officials to trial on charges of lying to a grand jury.

A Jan. 19 arraignment was set for Tim Curley, the school's one-time athletic director, and Gary Schultz, a vice president at Penn State. They were charged with perjury last month after former Nittany Lions assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with 40 counts of sexual crimes against children.

Another assistant coach, Mike McQueary, testified Friday he witnessed what he thought was former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky molesting a boy.

When he reported what he saw, McQueary said he clearly conveyed to head Coach Joe Paterno, Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and Senior Vice President Gary Schultz what he saw was sexual in nature, the State College Centre Daily Times reported Friday.

"There's no question in my mind that I conveyed to them that I saw Jerry with a boy in the showers and that it was severe sexual acts going on," McQueary testified during a hearing in Harrisburg.

McQueary was the first witness to testify in a preliminary hearing in Dauphin County Court to determine whether there is enough evidence to try Curley and Schultz on charges of perjury and failure to report abuse.

Curley and Schultz told a grand jury McQueary, a graduate assistant at the time of the alleged incident, didn't tell them the seriousness of what he saw. Their lawyers said the men are innocent and have contested McQueary's statements.

Sandusky is charged with more than 50 counts involving sexual abuse of 10 boys that occurred during a 15-year period.

McQueary testified that he walked into a locker room and felt "embarrassed" when he heard someone in the shower, CNN reported.

"I looked in the mirror and shockingly and surprisingly saw Jerry with a boy in the shower," McQueary said.

He said Sandusky was behind the boy and the boy was against a wall. He said he believed the two were engaged in intercourse but couldn't be sure.

"They had turned so their bodies were both facing me," he said. "They looked directly in my eyes."

McQueary said he called Paterno, who was fired in the fallout, on the next day and told him he saw Sandusky and the boy in the shower and "it was extremely sexual in nature. … I thought I needed to tell him about it."

He said Paterno was "shocked" and "saddened" on hearing about the alleged incident, CNN reported.

Curley, 57, is on leave, and Schultz, 62, retired in the wake of the allegations. Penn State trustees ousted President Graham Spanier and Paterno amid criticism their actions were inadequate.