Sex Abuse Scandal Rocks Penn State

Penn State's storied football program is reeling from a sex scandal that touches its top ranks: Longtime former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was yesterday charged with sexually molesting up to eight boys, and the school's athletic director and a vice president are expected to surrender tomorrow on perjury charges for failing to alert cops to the abuse, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. A grand jury investigation yielded 40 charges spanning decades against Sandusky—20 of which allegedly took place while he worked for Joe Paterno, and the rest after his retirement in 1999, as he used Penn State facilities for his work with the Second Mile, a foundation for at-risk boys.

"This is a case about a sexual predator who used his position within the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys," says the state AG. The charges detail a grad student catching Sandusky having sex with a 10-year-old boy in the Penn State locker room, a janitor witnessing him performing oral sex on a boy, and other boys who were showered with gifts so long as they permitted abuse, among others. For a detailed breakdown, see the Patriot-News. Sandusky has been released on $100,000 bail; he could face life in prison. (More Penn State stories.)