Penn State Nittany Lions: Joe Paterno confessed knowledge of Jerry Sandusky behavior, former assistant says

Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno reportedly told former assistant Mike McQueary in 2001 that it wasn't the first time Paterno was hearing Jerry Sandusky had sexually abused children, per a 2011 Pennsylvania State Police report.

CNN obtained the report that detailed McQueary had gone to Paterno after witnessing an alleged "extreme sexual act occurring between Sandusky and a young boy" in a team shower in February 2001.

McQueary was allegedly told by the Hall of Fame coach that it "was the second complaint of this nature he had received" against Sandusky.

According to the police report, McQueary's account was that "Paterno, upon hearing the news, sat back in his chair with a dejected look on his face" and that the coach's "eyes appeared to well up with tears."

McQueary also filed a complaint to former university president Graham Spanier, former vice president Gary Schultz and former athletic director Tim Curley. The three university officials told Sandusky not to bring children onto campus anymore, and police were not notified.

A criminal investigation into Sandusky did not begin until a Pennsylvania school district reported another complaint about him in 2008.

Sandusky was convicted in 2012 of 45 counts of child sexual abuse. He is appealing while serving 30 to 60 years in state prison.

The scandal led Penn State to fire Paterno, who died a few months later in 2012. He was never charged with a crime, although unsealed depositions by alleged victims said Paterno knew of the abuse as far back as 1976.