Ex-Coach Denies Charges Amid New Accusations
Richard Perry/The New York Times
The office of the Second Mile foundation, a charity to benefit needy children that Jerry Sandusky started in 1977.
By MARK VIERA and JO BECKER
Published: November 14, 2011
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Close to 10 additional suspected victims have come forward to the authorities since the arrest
of the formerPenn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky on Nov. 5 on 40 counts of sexually abusing young boys, according to people close to the investigation. The police are working to confirm the new allegations.Multimedia
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Centre Daily Times, via Associated Press
Jack Raykovitz was the chief executive of the Second Mile foundation for 28 years.
The news of additional accusations came on a day when Sandusky made his first extended public comments since his arrest, and the resignation of the chief executive of the Second Mile foundation, the charity founded by Sandusky, was made public. They were the latest developments in a case that has led to the ouster of several top university officials, including the football coach, Joe Paterno, and the president, Graham B. Spanier.
In a phone interview with Bob Costas that was broadcast Monday night on “Rock Center,” Sandusky said he was innocent of the charges against him and declared that he was not a pedophile. He did acknowledge, “I shouldn’t have showered with those kids.”
“I could say that I have done some of those things,” he said of the accusations against him. “I have horsed around with kids. I have showered after workouts. I have hugged them and I have touched their legs without intent of sexual contact.”
He added: “I enjoy being around children. I enjoy their enthusiasm. I just have a good time with them.”
For many years, that enthusiasm took public form in his work with the Second Mile, a charity to benefit needy children that Sandusky started in 1977. On Sunday, Jack Raykovitz, the chief executive of the foundation for 28 years, resigned. Raykovitz’s failure to do more to stop Sandusky has been a focal point of criticism.
The Pennsylvania attorney general has said that Sandusky used the Second Mile to prey on young boys and that he met each of the eight boys mentioned in the grand jury report through the foundation.
Raykovitz was reportedly informed by the Penn State athletic director Tim Curley about a 2002 assault in which Sandusky is suspected of raping a young boy in a shower at Penn State’s football facility. Curley also advised Raykovitz that Sandusky was prohibited from bringing children onto the university’s campus from that point.
Sandusky resigned from daily involvement with the Second Mile last fall, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Raykovitz, who is a licensed psychologist, said in a statement last week that Penn State officials had told him only that the graduate assistant who witnessed the attack was “uncomfortable” with seeing a young boy shower with Sandusky. That graduate assistant has since been identified as a current Penn State assistant, Mike McQueary, who has been placed on leave.
“I hope that my resignation brings with it the beginning of that restoration of faith in the community of volunteers and staff that, along with the children and families we serve, are the Second Mile,” Raykovitz said in a statement released by the Second Mile.
In announcing Raykovitz’s resignation, which was accepted Sunday, the Second Mile also said that it would conduct an internal investigation to assess its policies, procedures and processes, and to make recommendations regarding the organization’s future operations.
The vice chairman of the organization, David Woodle, will be in charge of the Second Mile’s day-to day operations.
Raykovitz made $132,923 from the Second Mile during the calendar year that ended Aug. 31, 2010, according to its tax forms.
In addition to the firings of Paterno and Spanier, the scandal led Curley and Gary Schultz, the vice president for finance and business, to step down last week. Both men have been charged with perjury and failure to report to the authorities what they knew about the allegations involving Sandusky, Penn State’s defensive coordinator from 1977 to 1999.
Also Monday, the Big Ten announced that Paterno’s name would be removed from its championship trophy for football. It will now be called the Stagg Championship Trophy, after Amos Alonzo Stagg.
The Second Mile has sought to help needy children across the state through various programs, but its suspected role in the case against Sandusky and its close relationship with the university are now being scrutinized.
The Second Mile also announced that Archer & Greiner, including Lynne M. Abraham, a partner at the firm, would become the organization’s general counsel, replacing Wendell V. Courtney, who resigned last week. Courtney had served as Penn State’s counsel before he said he started representing the Second Mile in 2009.
While none of the suspected incidents involving Sandusky and the eight boys mentioned in the grand jury report had reportedly taken place at Second Mile programs, the organization said, that “does not change the fact that the alleged sexual abuse involved Second Mile program children, nor does it lessen the terrible impact of sexual abuse on its victims.”
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