Former Penn State President Accused of Sandusky Conspiracy
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Justin K. Aller/Getty Images(HARRISBURG, Pa.) — State prosecutors on Thursday charged Penn State’s former president with perjury and child endangerment, accusing him of overseeing a cover-up that allowed convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky to prey on nearly a dozen children for years.
Calling it a “conspiracy of silence,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly accused former university president Graham Spanier and two other administration officials of “working to conceal the truth” and “an absolute disregard to the safety of minor children.”
“If these men had done what they were supposed to do…several young men would not have been attacked by a serial predator,” Kelly said, accusing the men of “turning a blind eye” and failing to alert authorities after they had been alerted of Sandusky’s activities in 1998 and again in 2001.
In July, Sandusky, a former assistant football coach, was convicted on 45 counts of abuse against 10 boys. Several of those incidents occurred on Penn State’s campus, including in a locker room and shower.
Spanier was similarly accused of overseeing a cover-up by an independent investigation conducted by former FBI director Louis Freeh. That report had no legal standing, but following its release in August, Spanier vehemently denied the charges.
Calls to Spanier’s lawyer John Riley were not immediately returned.
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