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The Jerry Sandusky Penn State probe, involving years of alleged child abuse by the retired defensive coordinator, keeps getting dirtier, casting a long shadow over the grimy world of college football scandals and forever putting a blot on Penn State football and charity The Second Mile. Sandusky, once considered a likely replacement for football coach Joe Paterno, has been charged with sexually assaulting at least eight young boys over the course of fifteen years, but reports indicate the abuse may have involved more youths, gone on longer, and may have been covered up by high-ranking members of Penn State football and general faculty.
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Investigation into ongoing child sex abuse at Sandusky charity foundation The Second Mile began in 2009, when a first official report was filed, and it seemed as though the charges caught the athletic and scholarly community completely by surprise.
Now however, two Penn State officials, Athletic Director Tim Curley and Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz, have been charged with failing to report suspected child abuse. Notes from the grand jury report, the Pennsylvania attorney general's office, and reporting by news outlets like CNN and USA Today show that allegations of abuse, and eyewitness accounts, date back as far as 1994 at least.
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Here, a timeline of the course of the explosive sex scandal and its apparent cover-up by members of the Penn State faculty.
1977 -- Jerry Sandusky founds The Second Mile, a state-wide non-profit foundation established to help at-risk youth. The organization's web site describes it as a place to "promote self-confidence as well as physical, academic, and personal success."
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1994-1997 -- Sandusky allegedly uses The Second Mile grounds to engage in "inappropriate conduct" with three different boys he met separately through the program. One boy was 7 or 8, the second was 10, and the third was between 12 and 13. According to the grand jury report, the three boys, now grown, say Sandusky's behavior ranged from touching to overt sexual come-ons and sexual assault. Several incidents reportedly took place during home games for Penn State football, when the team, staff and the boys were all staying at a nearby hotel.
1998 -- First police involvement. Penn State police and the Penn. Department of Public Warfare are contacted by the mother of an 11-year-old boy, who says Sandusky showered with her son and may have had inappropriate contact with him.
June 1, 1998 -- In an interview with investigators, Sandusky admits showering naked with the pre-teen. He admits that it was wrong, and promises not to do it again. No charges are filed, and the university police chief instructs that the case be closed.
1999 -- Sandusky retires from Penn State after coaching for 32 years. he remains a volunteer, and retains full access to the campus, football facilities, and The Second Mile camp grounds.
2000 -- Sandusky showers with a young boy and tries to touch his genitals during overnight stays at the coach's house, according to the now 24-year-old man's testimony to the grand jury.
2000 -- First eyewitness report. Tim Calhoun, a janitor at the Lasch Football Building on Penn State's campus, tells another janitor and his supervisor that he saw Sandusky performing oral sex on a young boy. The incident goes unreported.
2000 -- Second eyewitness report. Another janitor sees Sandusky and a boy leave the shower room together and walk out of the building hand in hand, according to the grand jury report. No one reports the incident to university officials or law enforcement.
March 2, 2002 -- A graduate assistant allegedly tells Coach Joe Paterno that he saw Sandusky in the locker room shower on Mar. 1 with a young boy. The retired defense coordinator was engaging in anal sex with the boy, believed to be no more than 10 years old.
March 3, 2002 -- Paterno reports the incident to Athletic Director Tim Curley. Paterno tells Curley the grad student had seen Sandusky "fondling or doing something of a sexual nature to a young boy." The graduate assistant is called to a meeting with Curley and Schultz.
