Jerry Sandusky: Ex-Penn State Coach Charged With Sexual Abuse

Ex-Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested on Saturday and charged with the sexual abuse of eight young boys during his coaching career.

Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator under the legendary Joe Paterno, is charged with seven counts of first-degree involuntary deviate sexual intercourse along with aggravated indecent assault, eight counts of corruption of minors and four counts of unlawful contact with a minor, facing up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

Coaching football for 23 years, 67-year-old Sandusky reportedly sexually abused children from 1994 up until 2009. He was arraigned on Saturday and posted a $100,000 bail before his release, according to the Pennsylvania attorney general's office.

In addition, Athletic Director Timothy Curley, 57, and Senior Vice President of finance and business Gary Schultz, 62, were both charged with perjury and failing to report the sexual abuse, as they were associates at Penn State University with Sandusky.

Mr. Sandusky was taken into custody this morning by agents from the attorney general's office and Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania state attorney general spokesman Mils Frederiksen said in a statement. Mr. Curley and Mr. Shultz are scheduled to surrender in Harrisburg on Monday.

The state attorney general's office said Sandusky was arraigned on 40 criminal counts linked with the alleged sexual abuse of eight young boys. Prosecutors said some victims were from Sandusky's organization, Second Mile, which helped troubled young boys in Pennsylvania.

We believe that all eight of the victims he's accused of sexually assaulting were identified and were part of the Second Mile program, Frederiksen said.

A report from the grand jury said one of the victims, who claims to have met Sandusky in 2005 or 2006 when he was 11-years-old, was forced to perform and receive oral sex with Sandusky more than 20 times against his will.

The ongoing scandal was first reported in March of 2002 when a graduate assistant found Sandusky sexually abusing a young boy in the shower room of the Lasch Football Building at Penn State. Longtime Head Coach Joe Paterno was immediately notified and reported the abuse to Curley and Schultz, who failed to report matters to the police. Paterno was not charged with any crimes.

A preliminary hearing is set for Jerry Sandusky on Nov. 9.