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Freeh blasts PSU

Ex-FBI Director says Barron should resign

HARRISBURG — Shortly after former Penn State President Graham Spanier was convicted Friday of hushing up child sexual abuse allegations in 2001 against Jerry Sandusky, whose arrest a decade later blew up into a major scandal for the university and led to the firing of beloved football coach Joe Paterno, the lawyer commissioned by Penn State to investigate the case issued a statement highly critical of the school’s former regime.

Former FBI Director Louis Freeh’s report in July of 2012 concluded that Paterno, Spanier, former athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz failed to inform police about Sandusky and kept the allegations quiet for fear of bad publicity.

Freeh’s conclusions angered Paterno loyalists who felt the coach was unfairly made a scapegoat, and Spanier filed a suit against Freeh for defamation of character.

Unlike Spanier, Paterno had never been charged in the case and died less than three months after Sandusky was arrested in November 2011.

Curley and Schultz were charged for failure to protect children. They each pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges last week, prior to Spanier’s trial, and then testified against Spanier.

With each of the three having pled guilty of having been found guilty, Freeh felt his work was vindicated and issued a scathing two-page report Friday night.

“Graham Spanier, Gary Schultz and Timothy Curley were the most powerful men who ran the Pennsylvania State University. Today, they are convicted criminals,” he wrote in the emailed statement, which was verified later Friday by his lawyer Robert Heim.

“And Joe Paterno’s once iconic legacy is forever marred by his own decision to do nothing when he had the chance to make a real difference.”

Saying he was “very saddened for the many victims,” Freeh believes the conviction completely confirms and verifies the findings of his report.

He also called for current Penn State President Eric Barron and several board members to step down, saying they are “more concerned about bringing back a bronze statue (of Paterno, which was removed in 2012) than worrying about the multiple child victims who have forever been so grievously harmed.”

Ira Lubert, chairman of the Board of Trustees, issued a statement strongly backing Barron.

“I take exception with Freeh’s statement and categorically reject his criticism of President Barron,” Lubert wrote in an email to the Centre Daily Times. “The board leadership and President Barron have been consistent in our communications about the Freeh report. We embraced the road map for reforms that Freeh presented, and have disagreed firmly with Freeh’s characterization of Penn State culture. President Barron has led the creation of a model ethics and compliance program to protect and support the university community. He has my full support and appreciation for his leadership and accomplishments.”

Outspoken trustee member Anthony Lubrano, one of the alumni-elected trustees who won a court battle to gain access to the source materials used in development of the 2012 report, was even more blunt.

“Louis Freeh is a fraud. Period. End of story,” he told PennLive.com. “I hope he hasn’t spent the $8.3 million we gave him (in fees for the board-commissioned report) because I want it back.”

Spanier, 68, plans to appeal his verdict, his lawyer, Sam Silver, said.

The trial centered on how Spanier and two other university administrators handled a complaint by graduate coaching assistant Mike McQueary, who said he reported seeing Sandusky sexually molesting a boy in a team shower in 2001.

The three officials maintained they thought the allegation was “horseplay” and not sexual and told Sandusky he could not bring children onto the campus anymore. They did not, however, report the matter to police or child welfare authorities.

Sandusky was not arrested until 2011, after an anonymous tip led prosecutors to investigate the shower incident. He was convicted the next year of sexually abusing 10 boys and is serving 10 to 30 years in jail.

At least four victims at Sandusky’s trial said they were molested after 2001.

The scandal sent shockwaves through Penn State. It led to the ouster of both Spanier and Paterno and resulted in the school paying out more than $90 million to settle claims by more than 30 Sandusky accusers. In addition, the NCAA fined Penn State $48 million and briefly erased more than 100 of Paterno’s victories.

Penn State accepted Friday’s verdict and issued a statement critical of its past leaders.

“The verdict, their words and pleas indicate a profound failure of leadership,” Penn State said in a statement. “And while we cannot undo the past, we have re-dedicated ourselves and our university to act always with the highest integrity, in affirming the shared values of our community.”

At one point, the administrators planned to inform the state Department of Public Welfare. Instead, Spanier approved putting that on hold, and the agency was never contacted. That decision formed the heart of the case against him.

Curley, Schultz and Spanier had an email exchange in 2001 in which they first decided to report Sandusky to child-welfare authorities, but after Paterno came back from an overseas trip, Curley testified Wednesday that he notified the others he wanted to change the plan.

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