The Paterno family is asking the Freeh Group and the Pennsylvania Attorney General to immediately release all emails they have related to discussions between former Penn State administrators about how to handle a report that Jerry Sandusky had been seen in the shower with a young boy in 2001.
The statement released by the Paternos came after a CNN report last week in which the news station reported on leaked emails from 2001 where the administrators discussed the issue.
“With the leaking of selective emails over the last few days, it is clear that someone in a position of authority is not interested in a fair or thorough investigation. To be clear, the Paterno family does not know the source or sources of these leaks,” the family said in the statement.
Late head football coach Joe Paterno was told by former assistant football coach Mike McQueary that he had seen Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator, in the shower with a young boy, according to a grand jury report. Paterno then reported the incident to former Athletic Director Tim Curley and former Vice President for Business and Finance Gary Schultz, according to Paterno's testimony to the grand jury.
In one email, Curley wrote “After giving it more thought and talking it over with Joe [Paterno] yesterday, I am uncomfortable with what we agreed were the next steps”, according to CNN.
Curley and Schultz have been charged with failure to report suspected abuse and perjury in connection with the Sandusky case. Paterno was not charged.
According to the statement, the family believes the “leaking of selective emails” was not done with the intention of giving more information, but instead was done “to smear former Penn State officials, including Joe Paterno.”
The family is concerned that the public is having to try to piece together an entire story from just a few emails “that have been selected in a calculated way to manipulate public opinion,” according to the statement.
“It should not be the responsibility of the Paterno family to call for an honest, independent investigation. Given the seriousness and complexity of this case, everyone should be demanding the full truth, not just carefully selected excerpts of certain emails,” the family said in the statement.
Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of sexual abuse of minors on Friday, June 22.
