By Michael O'Keeffe
New York Daily News
November 5, 2011
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/penn-state-coach-jerry-sandusky-arrested-child-sex-case-ad-tim-curley-charged-perjury-article-1.972670
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| Jerry Sandusky, who was a key member of Joe Paterno’s staff at Penn State, is alleged to have sexually abused eight young men. |
Advocates of sexual abuse victims are taking a hard stand against the Penn State athletic department, including venerable football coach Joe Paterno, saying he should face criminal charges for failing to tell police that one of his assistants allegedly sexually assaulted a boy in a Nittany Lions locker room.
"At the very least, he should be fired," said Robert Hoatson, a Catholic priest who founded an organization called Road to Recovery that counsels abuse survivors.
"Any adult who learns about a child being abused should immediately go to the police," Hoatson said.
GRAND JURY REPORT ON JERRY SANDUSKY
Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly said Saturday that Paterno's former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who worked with at-risk kids through his Second Mile organization, abused or made sexual advances on eight boys between 1994 and 2009. Sandusky,
Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, the school's vice president for finance and business, were charged with perjury and failure to report the allegations.
In 2002, Kelly said, a graduate assistant saw Sandusky sexually assault a naked boy in the locker room of the Lasch Football Building on the Penn State campus. The grad student and his father reported the incident to Paterno, who immediately told Curley about the allegation, prosecutors said. Curley and Schultz met with the grad assistant about a week and a half later.
Hoatson said Paterno had a responsibility to tell authorities about the report, especially when it became clear that university officials would not take action.
"Every adult knows you tell the police, preferably first, but especially if your supervisors in the workplace are not taking action," said David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
"We are grateful that criminal prosecution is happening but school officials clearly have some explaining to do," Clohessy added. "We hope that Joe Paterno will be investigated for possible criminal activity."
Hoatson said the Penn State case has a lot of similarities to the sex abuse scandal that has cast a dark shadow on the Catholic Church for years.
"Joe Paterno is the most respected coach in America and Penn State has a winning football tradition. Protecting that image is more important than what may have happened to that boy. Like the church, it appears they were more interested in protecting their image than protecting children.
"Joe Paterno should be in jail if it is true he didn't go to the police immediately after learning about this," Hoatson said. "At the very least, he should be forced to resign."
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