A long history in Penn State child abuse case

I cannot understand why McQueary is still out of jail. He saw a crime and, by not reporting it to the police abetted it and enabled other crimes to occur. He was not a frightened kid. He was a 28 year old graduate student. Perhaps his ambition to be hired by Paterno overcame his human concern for a child but that is not an excuse. In fact, it makes the man’s inaction more damning. He didn’t even have to fight Sandusky. All he had to do was yell and make his presence known. Instead, he skulked off and didn’t report it to Paterno until the next day. This is obscene.

When you are a kid no one will believe you about things like this. I told my mother about the swim teacher at VA Tech.

“the university’s famed alumnae, including professional football players”

You mean “alumni” (men). Alumnae are women. Alumnus, alumna, alumni, alumnae.

What is most striking about this case is the gross negligence and incompetence of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, University police and District Attorney’s office in 1998, especially the last.

Law enforcement professionals were the first to hear complaints about Sandusky but they completely bungled it.

They had two boys complain and a confession by Sandusky that he touched them inappropriately yet he was not arrested. They failed utterly to do their jobs and recognize a classic child predator. All Sandusky’s victims after 1998 could be considered their fault.

Four of the 2011 charges against Sandusky (victim 6) could have been brought in 1998. Yet the District Attorney let him go to molest others.

Anyone in the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, University police and District Attorney’s office who worked on the Sandusky case in 1998 should be fired just like Paterno and Spanier.

This is as unacceptable as the nightmare with the Catholic Church in the US and Ireland. Paterno knew better than to let this kind of thing slide. If it happened to his son, he’d have demanded action.

The scary thing is that many more boys (young men by now) will probably choose not to come forward as victims because they think it will make them appear weak or like “easy victims” to their friends. No man in his late teens or early 20s wants to look weak to the guys he sees every day.

Why is Sandusky out on bail. Surely the crimes he is accused of make it likely he is a major risk to society. He had already been warned to stay away from children and has by all accounts disregarded any warnings. The recidivism rate for sexual predators is 100% and his being out on bail is likely to discourage those who have been abused by Sandusky from coming forward.

The only reason I can think of that he is out on bail is that he is part of an elaborate pedophile ring that includes judges, lawyers, university administrators, policemen etc. This stinks of a massive conspiracy by a group of sick and depraved and powerful men.

I don’t know how anyone in good conscience could even attend this university anymore when the corruption and cover-up runs so deep.

So much sickly actions and coverups and all to protect criminals in a tainted enterprise. Dig deep and you find more crimes, because crimes and criminals are “well” connected. Do not be surprised that this happened in a well-regarded university. There many other cases of exploitations and unfairness in universities.

Pardon the pun…… Everyone dropped the ball on this one. Shameful.

McQueary was not a “staff member” as a graduate assistant, and bound only to communicate what he saw to his superiors, including Coach Paterno. McQueary, while he could have done more, did not break any law. On the otherhand, Paterno was his superior and had the real authority and moral obligation to communicate this abuse to the police, but he didn’t. Based on what I have heard and read, Paterno is the one who will probably face civil suits in the millions of dollars for years to come.

It all started in 1994, and we are hearing about it in 2011. How does criminal abuse that has been witnessed and reported go on unchecked for so long? The list of culpable abettors is wide and deep.

I’m sure I add one small voice to a chorus that feels deeply saddened and sorrowful for the victims and their families.

mjp1958 – You can’t have it both ways. If you hold Paterno to a “moral obligation to communicate this abuse to the police” than McQueary had the same “moral obligation.”

It isn’t even clear if McQueary had a legal obligation to report what he saw at all given his lowly position and the way the laws are written.

That McQueary hesitated is understandable given how whistle-blowers often end up fired and unemployable in their field.

Sandusky had a lot of power and could have done a lot to ruin McQueary’s reputation. Penn State officials would not have liked an embarrassing surprise like that either.

Even if McQueary had immediately called the police in 2002, there is no guarantee anything would have been done to Sandusky.

Two boys complained to the University Police that Sandusky touched them inappropriately in the showers in 1998. After the University police, the District Attorney and the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare investigated, they did not arrest Sandusky despite his confession.

On the question of why Sandusky is out on bail. He resigned from Second Mile a couple of years ago so has no source of boys as victims anymore.

He also knows that any hint of new child molestation, and they will revoke his bail.

He also seems like a minimal flight risk given his age and his ties to the community.