Two key figures in Penn State sex abuse scandal stay on payroll

A sign supporting Penn State university is seen before a trustees meeting on the school's Worthington Scranton campus in Dunmore, Pennsylvania July 13, 2012.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Two central figures in a probe of the sex abuse scandal at Penn State are continuing to draw salaries from the university, a spokesman said on Monday.

While deposed President Graham Spanier and one-time Athletic Director Tim Curley remain on the payroll, university spokesman David La Torre declined to say how much they are being paid.

Spanier, who has not been charged with a crime in the scandal, is on sabbatical in his role as a tenured professor in the school of Health and Human Development until December. Curley has been on administrative leave as athletic director, with pay, since he was charged with perjury in November of 2011.

In addition to whatever Penn State is paying him, Spanier has been reported to be working for an unspecified federal agency in a top secret role.

Both men were among those who came in for heavy criticism in a report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh in July, who probed the handling by Penn State of the abuse scandal that came about at the hands of former university assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

"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." Freeh said in a statement issued with the report.

"The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized."

He said neither Spanier, former vice president Gary Schultz, the late football coach Joe Paterno or Curley ever demonstrated, "through actions or words, any concern for the safety and well-being of Sandusky's victims until after Sandusky's arrest."

La Torre declined Monday to list the amounts Spanier and Curley are being paid. But Curley's replacement, David Joyner, now makes $396,000 per year, and information in The Chronicle of Higher Education says full professors at Penn State make an average of $132,100.

LaTorre said the status of both men is under review.

The news was first reported by the Harrisburg Patriot News.

(Editing by M.D. Golan)