On the final day of the first week of the Jerry Sandusky trial, three more men who said Sandusky abused them as children took the stand in court to describe their interactions with the former assistant football coach.
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The person referred to as “Victim 9” said he met Sandusky in 2005 when he was 12 years old during his second year with The Second Mile, in a pool at a summer camp.
Now 18 years old, the man said Sandusky would start taking him to football games and having him spend the night at his house. The man said he enjoyed spending time with Sandusky because he was well-known and took an interest in him — plus, the man said, at the time he did not remember the last time he saw his real father.
The man said Sandusky would rub and crack his back, as well as kissing him on the cheek, before he went to bed in the basement bedroom of the Sandusky home. Eventually, the man said the contact got more “physical.”
Scratching his hands and muttering into the microphone as he addressed the court, the man said Sandusky would soon start kissing him on the lips, and would eventually force himself on top of him and put his penis in the person’s mouth.
The man also said Sandusky would sometimes force the boy to engage in anal sex. He said he would sometimes bleed as a result.
“What was I going to do?” he said. "Look at him, he’s a big guy.”
The man said, over time, he would stay at Sandusky’s house a total of 100 to 150 times.
Sometimes, the man said, when Sandusky forced him to engage in anal sex, he would scream out — thinking that Dottie Sandusky, Jerry Sandusky’s wife, was upstairs in the house — but no one would come downstairs.
The man’s mother had the police come talk to her son on Nov. 9, 2011, after she heard news reports of Sandusky’s child sex abuse charges.
During lead defense attorney Joe Amendola’s cross-examination, the man said Sandusky had taken him and various members of his family, including his father, to Penn State football games until fall 2011.
Finally, lead prosecutor Joseph McGettigan asked the man to point to the person who abused him. Burying his head, the man pointed in the general vicinity of Sandusky in the courtroom.
McGettigan told the man he needed to look at Sandusky before he points.
“I don’t want to look at him,” the man said.
The man glanced at Sandusky for only a moment, then raised his finger and pointed directly at the former coach.
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The person referred to as “Victim 3” also testified Thursday, telling the court that he became part of Sandusky’s “extended family” and was then forgotten when he had to move to a group home.
The now-25-year-old man, also in the National Guard, said he met Sandusky at a “Casino Night” sponsored by The Second Mile. The man said the former coach soon after took him to a football camp in summer 1999, when he was 12 years old. On the car ride there, the man said Sandusky kept his hand on the boy’s leg — a detail mentioned by many of the others who have testified against Sandusky.
The man said Sandusky took him to the Blue-White game and had him stay over at his house. The man said, in total, he stayed at Sandusky’s house about 50 times.
When the man would get ready for bed in the basement room where he slept, he said Sandusky would come in shirtless and coax the boy to sleep in just his shorts. Sandusky would then tickle him and usually touch his genitals, the man said.
The man said the two would also take showers together after working out, though he said he didn’t like this. Sandusky would make the person feel guilty if he used a shower too far away, the man said, and would then soap the person up and wash his back, shoulders and butt, as well as bear hug him from behind.
The man said he was angry when Sandusky stopped him after he went to a group home. The man said he was eventually required to go to two group homes and a foster home.
“I would pray that he would just call me,” the man said. “I always wished he would adopt me or something.”
The man said he never had a father figure in his life, and Sandusky felt like a father to him. The man said his family life was never great, and he felt like extended family with Sandusky.
The man said he retained a lawyer after one sought him out. When lead prosecutor Joe McGettigan asked him how many lawyers he had, the man said he had two but the one he would prefer is McGettigan.
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The first to testify Thursday was the person referred to as “Victim 6,” who said he met Sandusky at a picnic sponsored by The Second Mile in 1998 when he was 11 years old.
Now 25 years old, the man said Sandusky soon invited him to work out. The man said he was very excited to go with Sandusky because he was a big Penn State football fan.
The man said Sandusky put his hand on the person’s leg during a car ride, which made him feel uncomfortable, but he said he just went with it when Sandusky didn’t remove his hand.
Sandusky gave him a quick tour of the football building and tried on some players’ clothes before playing polish soccer and polish bowling, the man said. The man said Sandusky then told the boy they were going to take showers — which the man said he found odd, because they weren’t too sweaty at the time.
The man said he tried to shower far away from Sandusky, but Sandusky said the shower next to him was already warm and told him to use a closer one. He said Sandusky tickled him and held him tight from behind, saying, “I’m going to squeeze your guts out.” The man said Sandusky also took him by the waist to lift him to the showerhead.
After being picked up by Sandusky, the man said he “pretty much blacked out” and didn’t remember anything until he got home where his mother saw his hair was wet. The man said his mother called Penn State University Police after he told her he showered with Sandusky.
Ronald Schreffler, the University Police officer who investigated the case, also testified Thursday. Schreffler said he listened in on a conversation between the mother and Sandusky in which the former coach asked several times if he should talk to the woman’s son, which the mother said would be inappropriate, and asked for forgiveness.
“I wish I could ask for forgiveness. I know I will not get it from you... I wish I were dead,” Sandusky said, according to Schreffler.
Schreffler also said Sandusky admitted to showering with boys, and said he shouldn’t have done it, during a meeting with Schreffler and a State College Police officer.
The man said he kept in touch with Sandusky through the years up until summer 2001. He would also sometimes send Sandusky text messages on holidays — one of which, referenced in court Thursday, read, “Happy thanksgiving, I’m glad God has placed you in my life. You are an awesome friend, love you.”
The man referred to as “Victim 6” said this was a message he sent to many people on his contact list.
The person referred to as “Victim 6” also sent Sandusky a text message on Father’s Day.
“Hey Jerry, just wanted to wish you a Happy Father’s Day. Great things are yet to come,” the message read.
The man said he didn’t think much about the incident until later in life.
“I quickly realized my perception changed thinking about it as an adult, as opposed to an 11-year-old, that that was inappropriate what happened to me,” the man said.
