On the third day of Jerry Sandusky’s child sex abuse trial, three more men — those referred to as “Victim 10,” “Victim 7,” and “Victim 5” — took the stand to recount their interactions with the former Penn State football defensive coordinator.
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The last of the three to testify Wednesday, the person referred to as “Victim 5” gave a tearful account of an incident in which he said Sandusky touched him inappropriately in the shower, and afterwards never spoke to him again.
Now 23, the man said he met Sandusky through a summer camp with The Second Mile. A counselor in his elementary school who thought being around other children would improve his English-speaking abilities referred him to the charity, the man said.
The man said his family spoke primarily Polish at home, but he didn’t think he really had a problem with his English-speaking ability.
After meeting Sandusky at the camp, the man said Sandusky began to invite him along to Penn State football games. The man said Sandusky would put his hand on the boy’s knee while they rode in the car on the way to the games. This didn’t cause much alarm at the time, the man said, as his father would sometimes squeeze his knee to help him relax.
In 2001, when he was about 12 or 13 years old, the man said Sandusky asked him to work out with him.
After working out, the man said Sandusky suggested they go into the sauna. He said both he and Sandusky undressed and wrapped themselves in towels.
While in the sauna, the man said Sandusky removed his towel, exposing himself. After the sauna, he and Sandusky went down the hallway to take a shower.
There, the man said, he stood at a shower not directly next to Sandusky and tried to face the wall so he didn’t look at Sandusky.
He said he kept looking over his shoulder and “felt” like Sandusky was watching him. He said he noticed that Sandusky had an erection, by he “didn’t understand the significance of it back then.”
The man said Sandusky then moved closer to him and began throwing soap at him. Next, the man said he felt Sandusky’s front pressed up against his back. Then, he said, Sandusky put his hand on the boy’s genitals. Sandusky then made him put his hands on Sandusky’s genitals, the man said.
The man said he managed to get away from Sandusky, dry himself off and get dressed.
Sandusky drove him home, but they did not say anything to each other or make eye contact, the man said.
Joe Amendola, Sandusky’s attorney, asked the man why in an earlier testimony, he said the incident with the former Penn State assistant coach occurred earlier than he now says it occurred –– 2001. According to the original grand jury report released in November, the man said the incident with Sandusky occurred in the late 90s.
When he really thought about when the incident actually occurred and compared it to events that occurred in his life — such as the September 11 attacks, his birthday and a transition between schools — the man said he realized it happened in 2001.
Until about a year ago, the man said he never told anyone what happened with Sandusky.
“I wanted to forget,” he said, “and I was embarrassed.”
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Earlier on Wednesday, the person referred to as “Victim 7” also testified about his interactions with Sandusky. This man was questioned extensively during cross-examination about the private attorney he hired.
Now 27, the man said Sandusky touched him inappropriately and made him feel uncomfortable.
On Wednesday, the man said he obtained his own lawyer so that he didn’t have to go through the process alone, since he didn’t know exactly what to expect. He said he signed a contract with the attorney but did not know the conditions of the contract. But, he said he has not paid the attorney any money thus far.
Amendola asked the man if he told prosecutors or anyone from the Office of the Attorney General the details of what he said Sandusky did to him, such as Sandusky reaching down the man’s pants and touching his genitals while driving.
The man said he told the Commonwealth the exact details of that contact with Sandusky after obtaining a private attorney.
The difference in testimonies, the man said, was because he finally started admitting to himself what had happened. He said he had blocked out much of the “negative” contact with Sandusky, focusing instead on trips to football games and other positive interactions.
“That doorway that I had closed has since been reopening,” the man said. “More things have been coming back.”
He said Sandusky also touched him while the two showered together. Amendola also called this into question, since the person referred to as “Victim 7” previously said there was no physical contact in the showers.
The man said he used to stay over at Sandusky’s house in an upstairs bedroom. Before he would go to bed, the man said Sandusky would lay down next to him with his chest against the boy’s back, sometimes shirtless.
“To this day, I’m sort of repulsed by chest hair now,” the man said. “I just remember the feeling of it pressed up against my back.”
The man said at one point, his relationship with Sandusky “changed” and the former coach stopped inviting the boy to football games. At the time, the man said, he thought he had done something wrong to make Sandusky angry with him.
The man said he received Penn State football tickets from Sandusky until 2009, but he did not have much contact outside of that with the former coach.
At the end of the testimony, prosecutors admitted into evidence a 2004 application from this man for a scholarship from The Second Mile, a portion of which read: “Jerry Sandusky he has changed my perceptions on life in a positive way.”
When asked if the “Sandusky” he wrote about in the application was the same Jerry Sandusky he had just referenced in testimony, the man replied, “Not to me, no.”
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The first of the three to testify, the person referred to as “Victim 10” said the former coach told him not to tell anyone what happened after sexually assaulting him.
“He told me that if I told anybody that I'll never see my family again,” said the man, who was living in foster care at the time of the incidents involving Sandusky.
The man, now 25, said Sandusky once pulled the man’s shorts down while the two were wrestling in Sandusky’s basement and engaged oral sex on him.
Another time, the man said he was riding in the car with Sandusky when the former assistant football coach asked him to engage in oral sex on him.
The man said he refused, and Sandusky became angry. Sandusky later apologized for getting angry, the man said, and told him he loved him.
During his second year at a summer camp with The Second Mile, “Victim 10” said Sandusky reached up his shorts while in a swimming pool and grabbed his genitals. He said he did not tell anyone that had happened, including his roommate at the camp — who is also now among those Sandusky is charged with abusing.
During the testimony Wednesday, the man said he and his roommate from the second year at the camp have not been in contact with each other.
The man said he has some history of alcohol and drug problems and recently served 23 months in prison for robbing an “older” man. He said he is doing better now, though.
The man’s foster mother also testified Wednesday, saying her foster son never told her Sandusky had abused him until November or December 2011.
She said at one point, Sandusky called the home, and her foster son told her that he didn’t want to go back to spend time with Sandusky.
The foster mother said her foster son spent time with Sandusky “more than once but probably not more than four times” while he was living in her house.
At the end of the day’s proceedings, Senior Judge John Cleland said the trial is moving along faster than previously expected and the prosecution should be finished calling witnesses by Friday.
