×

Agent: McQueary a victim

Mike McQueary

BELLEFONTE — The lead investigator in the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse case said Wednesday he believes that former Penn State assistant football coach Mike McQueary was another victim of the prosecution that led to Sandusky’s conviction and 30-year minimum prison sentence.

Anthony Sassano, speaking to reporters after his testimony in McQueary’s civil trial against Penn State, said that McQueary was a “key” witness against Sandusky during his 2012 criminal trial and remains a witness.

Sassano said McQueary will testify for the prosecution if and when three former Penn State officials come to trial in Dauphin County for failing to report possible child abuse to police or child welfare officials.

Sassano, a former Altoona police detective, now serves as a special agent in charge of the Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotics. He was the lead investigator in the Sandusky case.

Sandusky was convicted of offenses against 10 boys, including an unidentified youngster that McQueary saw with Sandusky in the shower at Penn State’s football facility when McQueary went to his locker the evening of Feb. 9, 2001.

Sassano testified during the civil trial in the Centre County Courthouse Annex that McQueary heard “sexual sounds” coming from the shower area and saw Sandusky in a sexual position with the child but did not see if Sandusky was committing sodomy on the child.

McQueary that night, in a shaken state, discussed the incident with his father and a family friend, Dr. Jonathan Dranov, and they told him to report it to his boss, Joe Paterno, which he did the next day.

When the grand jury presentments were returned on Nov. 5, 2011, McQueary’s handling of what he saw and heard was widely criticized.

Testimony revealed the Penn State athletic department was flooded with emails and phone calls. A former human resources employee of the athletic department on the stand Wednesday said the atmosphere in the department was volatile and that phone calls were “atrocious,” “vile” and “vicious.”

According to Sassano, McQueary complained he wasn’t getting any support. Also there was at least one threatening email that Sassano discussed with Assistant Attorney General Jonelle Eshbach.

Sassano said he did not receive reports of threats or safety concerns from other police agencies, and he characterized the emails McQueary was receiving as coming from “nuts, crazy people.”

Penn State, however, responded by placing McQueary on paid administrative leave, a type of leave for which Penn State had no written policy, it was determined by Senior Judge Thomas G. Gavin of Chester County, who is presiding over the two-week case.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today