Penn State Officials Face The “Conspiracy of Silence” case, says Report
Two Penn State administrators, Gary Schultz and Tim Curley were arraigned on last Friday on new accusations they kept quiet child sexual abuse allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
The two had a hearing on charges of:
- endangering the welfare of children
- obstruction
- and conspiracy.
Schultz's attorney Tom Farrell talked of the positive things the men have accomplished, along with their co-defendant, former Penn State president Graham Spanier.
"People of this character do not do, have not done what they're charged with," Farrell said.President Graham Spanier will be arraigned this week on Wednesday.
The three men were accused in a withering 39-page grand jury report that was made public Thursday of conspiring to conceal complaints about Sandusky, which gave him time and access to molest more boys before his arrest nearly a year ago.
Prosecutors alleged the men decided not to alert police or child welfare authorities after getting a 2001 report of Sandusky sexually abusing a boy in a team shower.Of course, the Attorney General Linda Kelly said at a news conference Thursday that all three "knowingly testified falsely and failed to provide important information and evidence."
Spanier is charged with:
- perjury
- obstruction
- endangering the welfare of children
- failure to properly report suspected abuse
- and conspiracy.
By shutting down any chance of an investigation into Jerry Sandusky's inappropriate contact with a boy on the Penn State campus, Spanier cleared a path for Sandusky to keep using his university ties to sexually abuse children.This is oh so true and despicable. It's was a 'conspiracy of silence'.
Curley, 58, athletic director and Schultz, retired vice president for business and finance, were first charged a year ago, with perjury and failure to report abuse. Trial on those counts is scheduled for January.
Spanier's lawyers asserted his innocence and described the new charges as an attempt by Gov. Tom Corbett to divert attention from the three-year Sandusky investigation that began under his watch as attorney general.The university's then-chief counsel Cynthia Baldwin came to accompany them during grand jury appearances and testify against the men.
"We were stunned, we were flabbergasted that she would testify against our clients," said Curley's lawyer, Caroline Roberto.
Schultz's attorney Farrell said Baldwin, a former state Supreme Court justice, "has betrayed her clients, her profession and testified falsely."
Baldwin's lawyer Charles De Monaco referred a reporter to a statement issued this summer in which he defended her, saying she "at all times fulfilled her obligations to the university and its agents."Spanier, 64, of State College, had been university president for 16 years when he was forced out after Sandusky's November 2011 arrest. He remains a faculty member but was placed on paid leave Thursday.
This story and the convictions are very far from being over. All that had knowledge and aided in the sexual abuse cover up at Penn State will pay dearly and there will be no way out of it!!
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