A Comprehensive Timeline Of The Penn

State Child Sex Abuse Scandal

Deadspin staff
11/15/11 9:03pm Filed to: JERRY SANDUSKY

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On Nov. 5, a Pennsylvania grand jury indicted former Penn State defensive

coordinator Jerry Sandusky on 40 criminal counts for allegedly sexually
abusing eight boys between the mid-1990s and the late 2000s. Tim Curley,
Penn State's athletic director, and Gary Schultz, the school's former vice
president for business and finance, have also been charged with perjury and
failing to report abuse, based on their own testimony. Nittany Lions head
coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier have both been
fired. Information contained in this timeline has been culled primarily from
several sources: The 23-page grand jury summary, a previously published
Associated Press timeline about the case, and original reporting by Sara

Ganim of the Patriot-News of Harrisburg. The timeline also includes

additional developments since the grand jury's findings were made public.
We will continue to update this as warranted. If you see anything of note we
should add, let us know by sending an email to tips@deadspin.com.

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A Guide To The Child Sexual Abuse Charges Against Jerry

Sandusky, And To Penn State's Alleged Willful Ignorance
The Pennsylvania Attorney General's office has made public
the entire 23-page grand jury

1969: Jerry Sandusky becomes an assistant coach at Penn State. Unable to

have kids of their own, Sandusky and his wife Dottie adopt the first of six
children.
1977: Sandusky founds the group foster home The Second Mile, taking the
name from Jesus's Sermon on the Mount: "And whoever compels you to go
one mile, go with him two." The Second Mile will eventually become a
charity for children in need.
Nov. 8, 1990: President George H.W. Bush recognizes The Second Mile as the
country's 294th "Point of Light."
1994: Victim 7 meets Sandusky through The Second Mile. He is about 10
years old. According to the grand jury report, he will occasionally
accompany Sandusky to coaches' meetings and attend Penn State games
with him, staying overnight at Sandusky's home on the Friday before.
Sandusky puts his hand on Victim 7's thigh while driving and on more than
one occasion puts his hands down the waistband of the boy's pants,
according to the report. The two shower together, and Victim 7 will later
testify that he has a "blurry memory" of physical contact with Sandusky in
the shower.

1994 or 1995: Victim 6 meets Sandusky at a Second Mile picnic. He is 7 or 8

years old. Sandusky invites him to tailgate with Sandusky's family and
attend a football game with other boys.
1995: The biological mother of one of Sandusky's legally adopted sons
writes "letters of concern" about Sandusky to child welfare officials and a
judgethe first documented allegation against Sandusky of abuse. The son,
named Matt, was not listed among Sandusky's victims. Matt attempted
suicide four months after being placed with Sandusky. The night he
attempted suicide, Matt wrote a letter to his probation officer asking to
remain with the Sanduskys. He later testified before the grand jury, and
while the nature of his testimony is not known, he brought his children to
visit Sandusky on the day Sandusky was arrested, prompting the mother of
those children to go to court to prevent him from doing so again.
1995 or 1996: Victim 5 meets Sandusky through The Second Mile when he is
7 or 8 years old. Sandusky invites him to tailgate with Sandusky's family
and attend a football game with other boys. He will attend as many as 15
football games in all as Sandusky's guest, and he will travel with him to
watch other games. According to the grand jury report, Sandusky often puts
his hand on Victim 5's leg while driving.
1996 or 1997: Victim 4 meets Sandusky through the Second Mile program.
He is 12 or 13 years old.
1996-98: Victim 5, now 8 to 10 years old, is taken to the locker rooms and
showers at Penn State by Sandusky.
1997-98: Sandusky first makes "physical contact" with Victim 4 while
swimming. Victim 4 travels to the 1998 Outback Bowl as a member of
Sandusky's family party. He accompanies the team and other staff, even
sharing the same accommodations. This boy also frequently stays with
Sandusky in a hotel room near the Penn State campus on the night before
Penn State home games. Sandusky's wife is "never present" for these
sleepovers. Victim 4 also accompanies Sandusky on numerous charity golf
outings.

May 1998: Sandusky picks up Victim 6 and drives him to Penn State's
campus to work out. During the drive, Sandusky places his hand on Victim
6's left thigh several times. He asks him to shower, even though Victim 6
does not want to. The boy says Sandusky bear-hugged him, washed his back
and picked him up and placed him under the shower head to rinse him off.
Upon returning home, Victim 6's mother notices his hair is wet and calls
university police. The mother has two conversations with Sandusky; A
university police detective and a State College police detective listen in on
both of them, with the mother's consent. Sandusky admits to the mother he
has showered with other boys. She asks him not to do it again. Sandusky
tells the mother, according to the grand jury summary, "I understand. I was
wrong. I wish I could get forgiveness. I know I won't get it from you. I wish
I were dead." Sandusky also admits what he did to a university police
detective and an investigator with the state Department of Public Welfare.
Wendell V. Courtney, an attorney representing both Penn State and The
Second Mile at the time, is advised of the investigation. Ray Gricar, the
Centre County district attorney, declines to press criminal charges against
Sandusky. People/organizations aware of allegations concerning Sandusky,
as of this date: Penn State University Police, State College Police
Department, Centre County Office of the District Attorney, Second Mile
attorney, Penn State attorney, Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.

Alleged Victim's Mother: Jerry Sandusky Admitted It "To My

Face" 13 Years Ago
The Patriot-News of Harrisburg (PennLive.com) has done
yeoman's work covering the Penn State

June 1999: Sandusky retires from Penn State, effective after the '99 season,
after which he still holds emeritus status, which grants him access to an
office and the university's football facility.
Dec. 28, 1999: Victim 4 is listed, along with Sandusky's wife, as a member
of Sandusky's family party for the 1999 Alamo Bowl.
Summer 2000: Boy known as Victim 3 meets Sandusky through The Second
Mile when he is between seventh and eighth grade.

Fall 2000: A janitor, James Calhoun, witnesses Sandusky giving a boy

identified as Victim 8oral sex in a shower at the Lasch Football Building.
He immediately tells other members of the janitorial staff. Another Office of
Physical Plant employee, Ronald Petrosky, looks and sees two pairs of feet
but nothing moreand later cleans the shower, though he eventually does
see Sandusky leave the locker room with a boy he estimates to be 11 to 13
years of age. Members of the janitorial staff fret that they might lose their
jobs if they said anything to anyone. Calhoun eventually tells Jay Witherite,
his immediate supervisor, who advises Calhoun "to whom he should report
the incident, if he chose to report it." Calhoun, a temporary employee, never
makes a report. He now lives in a nursing home and has dementia. Victim
8's identity remains unknown. People/organizations aware of allegations
concerning Sandusky, as of this date: Penn State University Police, State
College Police Department, Centre County Office of the District Attorney,
Second Mile attorney, Penn State attorney, Pennsylvania Department of
Public Welfare, Penn State's janitorial staff and supervisor.
March 1, 2002: A witness, since identified as then-graduate assistant Mike
McQueary, enters the locker room at the Lasch Football Building around
9:30 p.m. He testifies to hearing "rhythmic, slapping sounds" in the
showers and takes a look. He sees a naked Sandusky anally raping a boy,
estimated to be 10 years old and identified as Victim 2. Shocked, McQueary
estimated to be 27 or 28 years oldrushes home to tell his father.
March 2, 2002: McQueary calls Joe Paterno and goes to Paterno's home to
tell him what he had seen.
March 3, 2002: Paterno calls Tim Curley, Penn State's athletic director, and
invites him to his home, where he reports a version of what McQueary had
said.
March 2002: McQueary is called to a meeting with Curley and Senior Vice
President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz. McQueary tells them what
he saw. Curley and Schultz say they will look into it. People/organizations
aware of allegations concerning Sandusky, as of this date: Penn State
University Police, State College Police Department, Centre County Office of

the District Attorney, Second Mile attorney, Penn State attorney,

Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, Penn State's janitorial staff and
supervisor, graduate assistant Mike McQueary, head coach Joe Paterno,
Penn State athletic director, Penn State senior vice president for finance and
business.
Late March 2002: McQueary hears from Curley. He is told Sandusky's locker
room keys are taken away and that the incident has been reported to The
Second Mile. McQueary is never questioned by university police and no other
entity conducts an investigation until McQueary testifies before the grand
jury in December 2010. Curley, Penn State's athletic director, testifies that
he told Jack Raykovitz, The Second Mile's executive director, that Sandusky
was prohibited from bringing children onto Penn State's campus again.
Curley and Schultz also meet with Graham Spanier, Penn State's president,
"to report an incident with Jerry Sandusky that made a member of Curley's
staff uncomfortable,'" according to the grand jury summary.
People/organizations aware of allegations concerning Sandusky, as of this
date: Penn State University Police, State College Police Department, Centre
County Office of the District Attorney, Second Mile attorney, Penn State
attorney, Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, Penn State's janitorial
staff and supervisor, graduate assistant Mike McQueary, head coach Joe
Paterno, Penn State athletic director, Penn State senior vice president for
finance and business, Second Mile executive director, Penn State president.
April 15, 2005: Gricar, the Centre County District Attorney who chose not to
press charges against Sandusky in 1998, goes missing and is never heard
from again. His car is found the next day in nearby Lewisburg, Pa.

The Mystery Of Ray Gricar, The Prosecutor Who Failed To

Prosecute Jerry Sandusky (And Who Might Be Dead)
On April 15, 2005, Ray Gricar, the Centre County district
attorney, left his office in the

July 2005: Gricar's county-issued laptop is discovered in a river. Its hard

drive is missing.

October 2005: The hard drive to Gricar's computer is found on a riverbank,

but no data can be recovered. Four years later, it is discovered that internet
searches run on the computer before Gricar disappeared include "how to
wreck a hard drive," "how to fry a hard drive," and "water damage to a
notebook computer."
2005-2006: Boy known as Victim 1 says that he meets Sandusky through
The Second Mile at age 11 or 12.
2006 or 2007: John Miller, a wrestling coach for the elementary school
program for which Victim 1 used to wrestle, returns to the local high school
one evening to retrieve something. He notices a light is on in a weight room.
He goes in to turn it off and finds Sandusky and Victim 1 "lying on their
sides, in physical contact, face to face on a mat." Both Sandusky and Victim
1 appear surprised when Miller walks in. Sandusky jumps up and says, "Hey,
Coach, we were just working on some wrestling moves." The grand jury
report notes that Sandusky was not a wrestling coach. People/organizations
aware of allegations concerning Sandusky, as of this date: Penn State
University Police, State College Police Department, Centre County Office of
the District Attorney, Second Mile attorney, Penn State attorney,
Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, Penn State's janitorial staff and
supervisor, graduate assistant Mike McQueary, head coach Joe Paterno,
Penn State athletic director, Penn State senior vice president for finance and
business, Second Mile executive director, Penn State president, wrestling
coach.
Spring 2007: Sandusky begins spending time with Victim 1 weekly, having
him stay overnight at his residence in College Township, Pa. Victim 1 also
testifies that he Sandusky had brought him to preseason practices at Penn
State. Sandusky makes a habit of climbing into the bed with Victim 1,
initially to crack the boy's back. The boy testifies that this physical contact
eventually escalates to Sandusky performing oral sex on him approximately
20 times.

Spring 2008: Victim 1 terminates contact with Sandusky when he is a

freshman at
Central Mountain (Pa.) High School, refusing to take his phone calls. Before
their contact is severed, Sandusky continues to visit Victim 1 at school,
where unaware administrators allow Sandusky to have unsupervised
meetings with Victim 1 in a conference room. Sandusky is an assistant
varsity football coach who has "unfettered access to the school," according
to the grand jury summary.
Fall 2008: Stephen Turchetta, the head football coach at Central Mountain
High, notices Sandusky, by now a volunteer assistant football coach at the
school, is being "very controlling" with the students Sandusky is mentoring
from The Second Mile. Sandusky would sometimes want more of a time
commitment than students could give and even engaged in "shouting
matches" with some of them. Turchetta later testifies that Sandusky was
"clingy" and "needy" when a student would sever his mentoring
relationship with Sandusky, which Turchetta describes as "suspicious."
Late 2008: Investigation into Sandusky launched at county level.
March 2009: Then-Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira
transfers the case to then-Attorney General Tom Corbett's office, citing a
conflict of interest. A grand jury is eventually impaneled sometime between
now and September 2009 to investigate only Victim 1's allegations.
Summer 2009: Sandusky is still listed as serving as director for overnight
football camps at Penn State satellite campuses.

As Recently As 2009, Jerry Sandusky Was Running An

Overnight Football Camp For Kids On Penn State Campuses
Of the child sexual assault charges against former Penn State
coach Jerry Sandusky, the fact that

September 2010: Sandusky retires from day-to-day involvement with The

Second Mile, saying he wants to spend more time with family and to handle
personal matters.

Fall 2010: The attorney general's office is now supervising the case, a year
and a half after it was transferred from the DA in Centre County. Corbett,
the attorney general, is running for governor, and the general election is in
November. Almost immediately, the 1998 police report about Sandusky is
discovered, and the scope of the investigation into Sandusky widens.
Nov. 2, 2010: Corbett, a Republican and the Pennsylvania Attorney General,
is elected governor.
2011: Victim 7 receives phone calls from Sandusky, Sandusky's wife, and
"another Sandusky friend" in the weeks before his grand jury appearance,
according to the grand jury summary. The callers leave messages saying the
matter was very important. Victim 7 does not return the calls. It is his first
contact with Sandusky in nearly two years.
March 31, 2011: Sara Ganim of the Patriot-News reveals the existence of the
grand jury investigation. Her story addresses only the allegations of Victim
1. "It's been a hush-hush situation," the former interim superintendent of
Keystone Central School District tells Ganim.
Nov. 5, 2011: Sandusky is arrested and released on $100,000 unsecured bail.
Leslie Dutchcot, the district judge who grants his release, is a volunteer at
The Second Mile.
Nov. 7, 2011: Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly says that Joe
Paterno is not a target of the investigation. She refuses to say the same
about PSU President Graham Spanier. Curley, who has been placed on
administrative leave, and Schultz, who has resigned, turn themselves in.
Both men are charged with perjury and failure to report child abuse, the
latter of which is a misdemeanor under Pennsylvania law.
Nov. 8, 2011: A possible ninth Sandusky victim comes forward. Penn State
first issues an advisory to reporters telling them that Paterno's weekly press
conference will be limited to questions about football. Less than an hour
before that press conference is to start, the school cancels it altogether. That

evening, a group of students marches to Paterno's house, where he weeps in

the window before coming outside to lead the students in a Penn State
cheer.

Penn State To Reporters: Do Not Ask About Jerry Sandusky

At Today's Conference Call
As he does every Tuesday during the season, Joe Paterno will
take questions from the media in a

Nov. 9, 2011: The 84-year-old Paterno issues a statement announcing he'll

retire at the end of the season. He also acknowledges he could have "done
more" in hindsight to stop Sandusky. Later that night, the Penn State Board
of Trustees meets and decides unanimously to fire Paterno and Spanier.
Longtime assistant coach Tom Bradley is named Paterno's interim
replacement. Penn State students riot.

Joe Paterno's Statement: "With The Benefit Of Hindsight, I

Wish I Had Done More"
Paterno makes it official. Via @MicheleSteele:

Nov. 11, 2011: Penn State students hold a candlelight vigil for victims of
child abuse.

LaVar Arrington Speaks At Penn State Candlelight Vigil

"We are Penn State. That'll never change. ... Understand this
is really a call to

Nov. 12, 2011: Penn State plays Nebraska at Beaver Stadium in the school's
first football game without Joe Paterno as a member of its coaching staff
since 1949. The Nittany Lions lose, 17-14.
Nov. 14, 2011: Jack Raykovitz resigns as the CEO of The Second Mile.
According to Curley's testimony, Raykovitz was told in 2002 that Sandusky
was prohibited from bringing children onto the Penn State campus.
Sandusky and his attorney, Joe Amendola, are interviewed by Bob Costas on
Rock Center. Costas asks Sandusky if he is sexually attracted to young boys; it

takes Sandusky more than 16 seconds to say the word "No." Amendola also
suggests Victim 2the as-yet-unidentified subject of McQueary's
testimonycould wind up being a defense witness.

The CEO Of Jerry Sandusky's Charity Has Resigned

According to the grand jury report, Penn State athletic
director Tim Curley "testified that he

Nov. 15, 2011: The New York Times reports that nearly 10 more victims have
come forward with allegations that investigators are working to confirm.
The Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call obtains an email from Nov. 8 in which
McQueary, the then-graduate assistant who testified that in 2002 he
witnessed Sandusky anally raping Victim 2, says he "made sure it was
stopped when I left that locker room" and that he had "discussions with
police," seemingly contradicting his grand jury testimony.

Report: Mike McQueary Says He Talked To The Cops After

Seeing Jerry Sandusky Rape A Boy
The Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call has obtained an email
dated last week in which Mike McQueary says

Dec. 7, 2011: Sandusky is arrested and led from his home in handcuffs after
the grand jury indicted him on 12 additional counts of abuse against two
more children.
[Patriot-News stories] [Our guide to the grand jury report] [AP timeline]
If you see anything of note we should add, let us know by sending an email to
tips@deadspin.com.