Harrisburg, PA

Graham B. Spanier will face charges for mishandling complaints against Jerry Sandusky.

The ex-Penn State President was charged before a district justice outside Harrisburg for alleged perjury, obstruction, endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy.

The charges were based on his inaction about a 1998 complaint by a mother and a 2001 complaint by a team assistant about Sandusky's child molestation activites.

Spanier, 64, said he had no memory of the mother's emails complaining that Sandusky had showered with her son.

He admits having slight recollections about a 2001 email by a team assistant who caught Sandusky sexually abusing a boy inside a team shower.

In his 2001 response to the latter email, Spanier agreed to a proposal by Curley not to report Sandusky to authorities. Instead Sandusky was told to seek help and prohibited from bringing children into school facilities.

He wrote back then that he considered the approach humane and reasonable.

Spanier was forced out as university president after Sandusky's arrest in November 2011.

He joins Timothy M. Curley and Gary C. Schultz among school officials charged for the alleged cover-up.

Meanwhile, new charges were brought against Curley and Schultz for endangering the welfare of children, obstruction and conspiracy.

Curley, 58, is the athletic director on leave while he serves out the last year of his contract, and Schultz, 63, has retired as vice president for business and finance.

Both were charged a year ago for lying to the grand jury that investigated the and failing to properly report suspect child abuse. Their trial is set for early January in Harrisburg.

"This is about three powerful and influential men, three men who used their positions at Penn State to cover-up and conceal the activities of (Sandusky),'' said Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly in announcing the charges.

A report by a group led by former FBI Director Louis Freeh concluded Spanier, Curley, Schultz and then-coach Joe Paterno concealed Sandusky's activities from the university trustees and "empowered" the abuse by giving him access to school facilities and the prestige of his university affiliation.

The report was commissioned by Penn State and issued this summer.

 

Copyright © 2012 AHN - All Rights Reserved