Jerry Sandusky Shower Victim Comes Forward, Says He Will Sue
Man claiming to be Victim 2 releases voicemails Sandusky left him before arrest.
July 26, 2012 -- The man who was seen being sexually assaulted in the Penn State showers by Jerry Sandusky in 2001 has come forward and identified himself to attorneys, who say that he plans to sue the university.
A man claiming to be Victim 2, whom assistant coach Mike McQueary saw being molested in the shower by Sandusky, is being represented by four attorneys, including Joel Feller and Matt Casey of Philadelphia and Justine Andronici and Andrew Shubin of State College, according to a statement released by the attorneys today.
The man's name is not being released to the public, but his attorneys have posted on their website two voicemails that Sandusky allegedly left the man on his cell phone in 2011.
Listen to Jerry Sandusky's Phone Calls
The attorneys confirm that the man is the same victim who McQueary saw one night in the Penn State locker room showers with Sandusky. McQueary, then a graduate assistant on the Penn State football coaching staff, said he walked into the locker rooms around 9 p.m. one Friday night to put sneakers in his locker and saw Sandusky in a very sexual position with the boy.
McQueary said he believed he had witnessed Sandusky raping the boy, and slammed his locker door loudly before leaving the locker room. He then went home and told his father what he saw, and the next day reported the incident to head coach Joe Paterno.
The incident became a linchpin for the case against Sandusky, as McQueary was the only eyewitness to an alleged assault who was called to testify at Sandusky's trial. Prosecutors had not been able to identify Victim 2 or interview him for the trial.
Sandusky was convicted of sexually assaulting the boy, despite the inability of police to identify the victim.
According to the statement by the attorneys, the man approached them and confirmed that he had been abused for "many years both before and after the 2001 incident."
The attorneys said they will be filling a civil suit on the man's behalf against Penn State University "and others."
The voicemails released by the attorneys include a man's voice that they claim is Sandusky's, calling Victim 2 just weeks ahead of his arrest.
"I would be very firm and express my feelings, uh, upfront. Um. But you know, there is nothing really to hide so, if you want, give me a call. You can call me on my other cell phone or on this one, either one so. All right, take care. Love you. Uh. Hope you get this message. Thanks," the man said in one message, dated Sept. 12, 2011.
"Just calling to see you know whether you had any interest in going to the Penn State game this Saturday," the voice said in another message dated Sept. 14, 2011. "If you could get back to me and let me know, I would appreciate it and when you get this message, uh, give me a call and I hope to talk to you later. Thanks. I love you."
The lawyers said in their statement that they had collected overwhelming evidence that Sandusky molested the boy for many years and that he is, in fact, Victim 2.
"As these messages indicate, Sandusky was attempting to exert control over our client even as his arrest for child sexual abuse became imminent," the statement read.
Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of child sex abuse in June and is awaiting sentencing in a Pennsylvania jail.
The handling of McQueary's report to Paterno about the shower incident resulted in the dismissal of Paterno, university president Graham Spanier and two other college executives for not reporting it to police.
Earlier this month, an internal investigation of the sex scandal, led by former FBI chief Louis Freeh, found that Paterno and the other top executives intentionally concealed Sandusky's abuse in order to avoid damaging Penn State football's reputation.
Based on the results of the investigation, the NCAA vacated all of Paterno's wins for the years 1998 through 2011, banned the team from bowl games, and fined the university $60 million.
Paterno, who died in January, said before his death that he wished he had done more with the information McQueary gave him.