The Penn State Nittany Lionfan waves in front of the crowd before the start of the Nebraska versus Penn State game at Beaver Stadium on November 12, 2011 in State College, Pennsylvania. Nebraska's 17-14 win capped off a week that saw the firing of head coach Joe Paterno and other leaders at Penn State University following the arrest of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky on allegations of child abuse. UPI/Archie Carpenter |
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COLLEGE STATION, Pa., Nov. 17 (UPI) -- An Internet post led Penn State child sex scandal investigators to the assistant coach who said he saw Jerry Sandusky rape a boy, The New York Times reports.
The Times said Thursday two people with knowledge of the case said investigators used the brief mention in a Penn State athletics Internet chat room about a football coach who had seen an instance of child sexual abuse years earlier in a locker room shower but kept quiet to track down Mike McQueary.
The sources said investigators arranged a discrete meeting with McQueary last year and the assistant coach readily told them what he had seen years before, the newspaper said.
"This had been weighing on him for a very long time, and our guys felt he was relieved to get it off his chest," one law enforcement official said. "When he had the opportunity to make it right, he told the truth."
After getting McQueary to tell what he knew, investigators went on to uncover a much wider case of abuse against Sandusky, who now faces multiple charges. In an interview this week, Sandusky said he only "horsed around" with boys in showers but denies any sexual impropriety.
The charges also have led to charges against two Penn State officials, the firing of head football Coach Joe Paterno and the departure of the school's president.
The Times said officials at The Second Mile, a charity for at-risk children Sandusky founded and prosecutors say he used to size up potential abuse victims, say several years of the organization's records are missing and may have been stolen. Their disappearance may hinder investigators as they try to learn whether Sandusky used charity resources to recruit victims or pay them off, the Times' sources said.
The Times said senior Penn State officials who were aware of allegations against Sandusky in 2002 didn't go to police and also did not tell the school's top attorney, Wendell Courtney.
Courtney told the newspaper in an interview this week he would have been required to report the accusations to law enforcement authorities.
The Am Law Daily reported Penn State has hired the law firm Reed Smith to advise its board of trustees as the scandal plays out. In a Wednesday e-mail to Am Law Daily, Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers confirmed the university has hired the firm to provide outside counsel to the board on various matters but the firm will not advise the special committee the school has created to conduct an internal investigation into the allegations of child abuse.
