The findings of an internal review into how Penn State University handled allegations of child sex abuse by a former assistant football coach were released Thursday morning.
The internal probe into the Penn State child sex abuse scandal found that top university officials, including former president Graham Spanier and then-head football coach Joe Paterno, “failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade.” Former university vice president Gary Schultz and ex-athletic director Tim Curley also failed to protect victims from former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, the report found. “Indeed, that continued access provided Sandusky with the very currency that enabled him to attract his victims. Some coaches, administrators and football program staff members ignored the red flags of Sandusky’s behaviors and no one warned the public about him,” the report says.
Louis Freeh, the former FBI director who led a probe into the Penn State scandal, said in remarks released Thursday that former athletic director Tim Curley consulted with former head coach Joe Paterno following sex abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky and “they changed the plan and decided not to make a report to the authorities.”
Freeh said “our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State.” “The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized,” Freeh said in the written remarks. “Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley never demonstrated, through actions or words, any concern for the safety and well-being of Sandusky’s victims until after Sandusky’s arrest.”
Click here for the complete Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan report.