Pa. lawmaker wants federal investigation into Penn State's handling of Jerry Sandusky case

[meow2u3]

Source: AP

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania lawmaker and former federal prosecutor is asking for an investigation into whether Penn State officials broke the law by not reporting sexual abuse allegations to proper authorities.
U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan said he’s asking Education Secretary Arne Duncan to look into whether the university violated the Clery Act, which requires colleges and universities to prepare, publish and distribute an annual security report disclosing all criminal offenses reported to campus security or local police.

“University officials are required to report suspected criminal offenses to campus security” under the law, Meehan states in the letter to Duncan.

Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/11/pa_lawmaker_wants_investigatio.html

[Rageneau]

1. Why was the (suddenly dead) DA involved if no one reported this?

I keep reading that 'no one at Penn State ever reported what they knew,' but it turns out that the local DA was already investigating these charges when he suddenly vaporized (or something). How did the local DA get involved if no one reported anything?

[davepc]

2. People did.

It was covered up.

This is going to get real ugly, but basically a child rapist was protected and enabled in order to not rock the boat on an athletic program and the 50+ million dollars of annual income it brought in.

[yardwork]

9. and with that much money sloshing around, the possibility of pay-offs are very real.

For instance, a DA decided not to file charges and then disappeared some years later. Could be totally unconnected, but usually when a district attorney disappears, money is involved somehow. Either money that has gone missing, or money that said DA might want to spend in a new life in the Bahamas.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. That's not accurate

The DA investigated a previous charge of assault on a minor that was reported by the minor's mother. This was in 1998.

The DA (Ray Gricar) decided not to pursue charges. The investigation was concluded by the time Sandusky retired in 1999.

Ray Gricar disappeared in 2005, very mysteriously, as you note. But there is no evidence at all that there was an ongoing investigation into Sandusky at the time of Gricar's disappareance.

[yellowcanine]

11. "...there is no evidence at all that there was an ongoing investigation into Sandusky ..."

Correct. There is no evidence. And if there had been evidence of that on Gricar's laptop, it was gone after the laptop was fished out of the Susquehanna River. We don't know if Gricar may have been investigating the 2002 alleged rape, for example. There are so many unanswered questions here and unfortunately the truth will likely never be known because the coverup appears to have been successful.

[alcibiades_mystery]

14. Right

There's lots of speculation, and no evidence.

[Ruby the Liberal]

15. Look up Centre County on a map

Trust me. This weeny teensy middle of nowheresville burg brings in $50mm every game.

You can rest assured that when this was 'exposed' in 2002, calls were made.

[alcibiades_mystery]

17. I lived in Centre County for ten years

1998-2007.

I'm well aware of the dynamics, thanks. Where did you live in Centre County?

[yardwork]

8. No evidence that the former DA is dead. He disappeared. No body found. Ahem. cough cough.

[No Elephants]

10. First, where do you keep reading that no one at Penn State ever reported

what they knew?

Doesn't really sound like a claim a reporter would make. Your version of what you keep reading is way too broad and covers things no reporter could possibly know for certain.

I've read about specific, named individuals having been aware of the abuse, but not having reported it.

Second, you jump from "no one at Penn State" reporting what they knew to no one at all reporting anything at all.

Penn State does not contain the entire universe of people.

Third, what point are you making? That the men accused of knowing, but not reporting, actually did report?

[TorchTheWitch]

12. the DA investigated the 1998 allegations

Those allegations were reported to the police. As a result of those allegations the creep was forced to retire and barred from stepping into Paterno's shoes, but as part of his retirement package he was given the right to use the campus including the shower facilities (which he continued to do with young boys). It was the more horrible allegations in 2002 that were never reported to the police.

The DA was not investigating anything concerning the creep at the time he vanished in 2005. There was a several year gap between the DA's investigation of the creep and his disappearance. Incidentally, it is still unknown what happened to the DA though I'm of the opinion that he is likely dead.

[yellowcanine]

16. The DA was not investigating anything concerning the creep at the time he vanished in 2005.

We don't actually know that since whatever was on the DA's laptop was gone by the time it was fished out of the Susquehanna River. How do we know the 2002 rape had not come to the attention of the DA? It is not as if he would have likely made it a high profile investigation given the potential for explosive revelations if pre-trial evidence somehow got out. There was something on that laptop that the DA or someone else wanted to hide. DAs investigate all kinds of things so of course there are many other possibilities. But as we have seen the past couple of days, there isn't anything much bigger than Penn State football in central PA. At the least, it should be looked at again by somebody.

[TorchTheWitch]

21. The DA wasn't investigating because they don't and can't on their own

DA's don't investigate mostly because it isn't their job and they wouldn't know how. They're lawyers, not investigators. It simply isn't possible for only the DA to know anything about the 2002 allegations because the police never knew about it, and it is the police that investigate a case for the DA to review and decide the legal ramifications of whether or not it's worth moving forward on. DA's don't have the necessary experience of the particulars of investigating, don't have the time, the resources, etc. and certainly wouldn't investigate somehow on their own and greatly risk fucking up the case because of all that. The DA already would have been swamped with other cases needing his attention, and that's just the desk work. What possible reason could the DA have for not using the police to do the investigation and try to wing it entirely alone other than to want to cover it up himself, in which case, he sure as shit wouldn't bother with doing any investigating and just tell whoever (oddly) told him directly and didn't call the police to either pound sand until they had some more info than a second or third hand allegation or to call the police since that's the normal protocol for a case being investigated.

The DA disappeared years later with his laptop having been tossed in the drink, and there's no reasonable explanation you can imagine that the laptop was tossed there other than this wild theory? He either committed suicide, was murdered or pulled a disappearing act to have a new life elsewhere, and you can't come up with any far more plausible reason for his laptop being tossed concerning any of those reasons for his disappearance?

Do you really imagine that the case of the missing DA isn't still ongoing? That heaven and earth hasn't been moved already to find out what happened to him and WHY?

Why are people trying so hard to equate the missing DA to this case? It's ludicrous. The people in authority at Penn State fell all over themselves keeping this ugly business from seeing the light of day including committing perjury in grand jury testimony and they kept it covered up for over a decade and until just recently they were unfortunately successful. That's it. And that's plenty bad enough without going out on a limb with wild theories about the missing DA who is not here to defend himself.

[RamboLiberal]

22. Story on missing DA

The prosecutor who decided to not pursue sex abuse charges against former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky more than a decade ago, despite an alleged confession, is at the center of a missing persons mystery that has enraptured middle Pennsylvania for years.

Ray Gricar served as the district attorney for Pennsylvania's Centre County in 1998 when Sandusky was accused of sexually abusing several boys. After an extensive investigation, which included testimony by two law enforcement officers that they had overheard Sandusky admitting to showering with multiple young boys, Gricar decided no criminal charges would be filed, according to recent court documents. Sandusky retired the next year.

Then, in April 2005, Gricar disappeared.

His car was found abandoned in a Lewisburg, Pa., parking lot and his laptop's harddrive was recovered from the nearby Susquehannna River, but there was no other trace of Gricar. No clues could be gleaned from the severely damaged harddrive and despite a six year investigation that involved the FBI and international help, police have as little an idea today about what happened to the former DA as they did then.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/sandusky-investigator-center-mystery/story?id=14905668

He's declared dead but body never found.

[SoapBox]

4. Long over due for a major investigation...

and, there needs to be some serious prison time for a whole bunch of people.

Amazing how they looked the other way for this perv...Can you say Catholic Church?

[VWolf]

5. Why is this coming out NOW?

I have a theory.

I think the authorities were dragging their heels on this case until Penn State won last week and Paterno set the record for most wins by a coach.

Is this :tinfoilhat: ? Maybe, but the timing seems awfully strange.

[bigworld]

6. Unfortunately I think you're right

Pennsylvania's my home state, but it's become apparant that the folks there can't be entrusted to handle this investigation fairly. Bring in the feds!

[yellowcanine]

13. I think that is likely a stretch. The timing was dependent on the Grand Jury report.

Grand juries meet at specified times. They take the time needed. Sometimes they need to interview witnesses and they may have to wait until a witness is available. Once an indictment is handed down a judge orders an arrest and law enforcement takes over. There isn't a whole lot of wiggle room and the timing is a matter of public record. If anyone were to delay the process as you are suggesting it would come out quickly and all hell would break loose.

I have served on a Grand Jury and this has been my experience.

[RobinA]

19. Seems Likely

If they really wanted to play the football calendar they would have waited until the season was over, or dropped the bomb before the season started. Frankly, were I going to try to save as many legends as possible, I'd have gone to Mr. Paterno during the summer and stooooongly suggested that he retire or face a possible firestorm of as yet unimagined magnitude.

While personally I don't feel that there was as much intentional malfeasance here as most people seem to think, it was a given that this was going to bite everyone anywhere near the situation. The whole thing makes me want to crawl into a hole for a variety of reasons.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

7. The NCAA should consider the Death Penalty for Penn State football ...

... if what is coming out proves to be true - in addition to Joe Pa, the graduate assistant, the A.D. and the university president being brought up on criminal charges for their involvement in covering this up - the NCAA should consider the Death Penalty for the program: stripping them of all wins and titles during the period of time covered, cutting football scholarships in half for an equal amount of time going forward, barring those involved from coaching or administering at an NCAA school for life.

But I am sure the NCAA is working on some sort of Joe Pa documentary and maybe a coaching award.

[Bill McBlueState]

18. I do know a lot of people who would love a few years without Penn State football

But the NCAA has used the 'death penalty' only to punish recruiting and similar violations -- when a team may have gained some kind of competitive advantage. It has never been used to address criminal behavior by a coach.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

20. So much worse than anything SMU did ... not to defend SMU - they deserved it.

The NCAA is such a joke.

Hopefully, criminal and civil charges will be filed against Joe Pa, the A.D., the then-grad assistant/now coach, the university president and anyone else involved in this coverup.

To be completely fair about this, I feel the same about the Catholic church.

Pedophiles should be spared no mercy ... neither should the filth that protect them.