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	Sandusky Accusations Read like Serial Predator's Guide, Experts Say By Jill King Greenwood Pittsburgh Tribune-Review November 13, 2011 http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_767065.html The accusations against a former Penn State University defensive coordinator read like a serial child predator's guide, experts say. "Everything police are saying this man did, from how he picked his victims, how he gained their trust, how he kept things secret for so long is a textbook case of how a true child molester operates," said Lauren Pettler, an intake coordinator at Uptown-based A Child's Place at Mercy who treated sex offenders in therapy for 10 years. "So many red flags should have been raised for years, and yet, everyone seems to have looked the other way." State prosecutors last weekend charged Jerry Sandusky, 67, a Washington County native, with molesting eight boys between 1994 and 2009, and charged two Penn State administrators with perjury and not properly reporting a 2002 incident in which an eyewitness allegedly saw the former coach sodomizing a 10-year-old boy in a locker room shower. A possible ninth victim stepped forward this week. Sandusky's attorney said his client is innocent. An investigating grand jury concluded Sandusky found victims through The Second Mile charity he founded in 1977. The group provides programming and services, including football camps, to more than 100,000 kids across the state every year. In a 2000 memoir he titled "Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story," Sandusky wrote that he and his wife, Dottie, could not have children and adopted six kids: Ray, E.J., Kara, Jeff, Jon and Matt. They met their youngest son through The Second Mile. The group said it stopped allowing Sandusky to participate in programs with children in November 2008 after he acknowledged authorities were investigating an abuse claim against him. He retired from The Second Mile in 2010. A Centre County judge this week approved a temporary order barring any contact between Sandusky and three of his grandchildren. Kids in The Second Mile usually come from disadvantaged backgrounds and broken homes, authorities said. Molesters often prey on such children, said Dr. Mary Carrasco of A Child's Place, an advocacy center that interviews children who report sexual abuse. "These pedophiles know what they're doing, and they select children who are from families where the parents aren't involved and the child isn't getting much attention," Carrasco said. "They make the child feel special, and once the child is emotionally attached, the predator begins to slowly sexualize their behavior to read the child and see how far they can go. "... (Children) may feel like they are at fault, or they are ashamed," she said. "And the predator has all the authority and the power, and the child often remains silent." In the grand jury report, an unnamed victim, now 27, said he was 12 when he became involved with The Second Mile and attended a family picnic at Sandusky's house. He said Sandusky touched him while swimming. The victim thinks Sandusky was testing "how he would respond to even the smallest physical contact," the grand jury said. During the weeks that followed, Sandusky initiated contact by tossing soap at the boy until they began wrestling, the victim told the grand jury. In his memoir, Sandusky wrote that while swimming, he "always loved to fool around in the water" with kids. He wrote about frequently "wrestling" with kids from The Second Mile. The grand jury presentment contains testimony from several victims who said Sandusky often initiated wrestling incidents before fondling them. "That is a classic example of a predator testing the limits, little by little, and seeing what he can get away with," said Delilah Rumburg, CEO of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center in Enola. "This kind of abuse doesn't happen suddenly. It's very subtle, and the child becomes comfortable and trusting and over time, the predator pushes the limits further and further." Sandusky took boys from The Second Mile to football games and swimming pools and gave them computers, cash, clothes and sporting equipment, the grand jury found. Experts call such behavior the "grooming" process. "The child likes the attention; they like the gifts and things that their own families probably can't afford" Carrasco said. "... The gifts are an effort to buy the child's trust and silence." Pettler from A Child's Place said predators know they're doing something wrong, but most don't grasp the full scale of the crime. "When you talk to child predators, they'll say, 'I loved those kids; I protected those kids and rescued them. I didn't hurt them.' They almost view themselves as some kind of savior," she said. Former National Football League coach Dick Vermeil wrote a forward for "Touched," in which he said Sandusky had "risen to the upper echelon of the coaching profession, both as a football coach and a humanitarian." His "larger-than-life" personality and reputation likely helped Sandusky avoid suspicion for so long, Rumburg said. "Predators are often charming, well-respected members of the community," Rumburg said. "He was a powerful football coach who was held is high esteem and he built a career out of supposedly helping kids." In another forward to Sandusky's book, Keith "Kip" Richeal calls Sandusky a "story-teller." "One of the best," Richeal wrote. "More often than not, there is Jerry's version of the story and then there is what really happened."
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