Child Sex Abuse Scandal
The Penn State child sex abuse scandal centered on former Pennsylvania State University football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's sexual assault of at least eight underage boys on or near university property. After an extensive grand jury investigation, Sandusky was indicted on 52 counts of child molestation dating from 1994 to 2009, though the abuse may date as far back as the 1970s. The trial of Jerry Sandusky on 52 charges of sexual crimes against children started on June 11, 2012, at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania and ended on the evening of June 22, 2012, when the jury found Sandusky guilty on 45 of the 48 counts against him.
Several high-level school officials were charged with perjury, suspended, or dismissed for allegedly covering up the incidents or failing to notify authorities. In the wake of the scandal, school president Graham Spanier was forced to resign, and head football coach Joe Paterno was fired late in the season, while Sandusky maintained his innocence.
Former FBI director Louis Freeh, whose firm was hired by the Penn State Board of Trustees to conduct an independent investigation into the scandal, concluded, after interviewing over 400 people and reviewing over 3.5 million documents, that Paterno, Spanier, Curley and Schultz had deliberately conspired to conceal Sandusky's actions in order to protect publicity surrounding Penn State's vaunted football program.
On July 23, 2012, NCAA announced that it had fined the Penn State football program $60 million, levied a four-year ban from bowl games and vacated all of the program's 112 wins from 1998 to 2011. They were also required to cut 10 scholarships for the 2011–2012 season and 20 scholarships for the following four years.
Read more about this topic: Penn State Nittany Lions Football
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