CNN Report: Penn State Covered Up Sandusky's Abuse

Disturbing e-mails could spell more trouble for Penn State officials - CNN.com

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With convicted serial child sex abuser Jerry Sandusky behind bars, new questions are surfacing about what Penn State officials knew about a 2001 incident involving the former assistant football coach's encounter with a boy in the shower -- and whether they covered up the incident.

After the 2001 incident, Sandusky sexually abused other boys over the course of years until his arrest. CNN does not have the purported e-mails. However, the alleged contents were made available to CNN.

The messages indicate former Penn State President Graham Spanier and two other former university officials knew they had a problem with Sandusky after a 2001 shower incident, but apparently first decided to handle it using a "humane" approach before contacting outside authorities whose job it is to investigate suspected abuse.

"This is a more humane and upfront way to handle this," wrote Gary Schultz, then vice president at the university.

Read the rest here.

If the CNN story is accurate, the emails collectively illustrate a systematic attempt to cover up the child abuse scandal that scarred dozens of lives, landed Sandusky in prison for the rest of his life and eventually took the life of legendary football coach Joe Paterno.

But the fact that Penn State officials covered for Sandusky shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Shortly after this scandal made headlines, LivingCrimson did some research and found convincing evidence that Paterno and other school officials knew what was going on for years.

The emails analyzed and reported on by CNN simply document what many already know or suspected, which is that the entire top level of the school's administration knew they had a monster in their midst and did very little to contain his evil.

Instead of protecting the most vulnerable, school officials were apparently--and sadly--worried about their own vulnerability.