A new bombshell dropped in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal: “[I]n 1976, a child allegedly reported to PSU’s Head Coach Joseph Paterno that he (the child) was sexually molested by Sandusky.”
That quote is from a court order in a current lawsuit is between Penn State and its insurance companies. Penn State is suing to be reimbursed for most of the $60 million-plus it paid in recent years to settle nearly 30 civil claims by adults who had been sexually abused by Sandusky when they were children.
Other witnesses deposed in that case testified that, in 1987 and 1988, unnamed assistant coaches witnessed “inappropriate contact” (code for sexual activity) between Sandusky and unidentified children, and in 1988 an incident that supposedly was reported to Penn State’s athletic director.
Judge Gary Glazer ruled that he would not bar claims from the 1970s and 1980s from insurance coverage because Penn State’s executive officers – its president and trustees – weren’t aware of the allegations of abuse by Sandusky. “There is no evidence that reports of these incidents ever went further up the chain of command at PSU,” the Judge wrote in his opinion.