Testifying at the trial of on-leave Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and another former high-ranking university official, Mike McQueary again reiterated that he saw Jerry Sandusky sexually molesting a boy he believed to be 10 to 12 years old in a shower of the football building in 2002.
Curley and retired vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz have been charged with perjury and failure to report in connection to the alleged molestation involving Sandusky. McQueary, as part of over two hours on the witness stand, testified that he informed then-head coach Joe Paterno the day after the alleged molestation, who then took the information of the alleged molestation to Curley and Schultz and arranged a meeting to discuss the situation.
“I told them that I saw Jerry in the showers with a young boy and what I had seen was extremely sexual ... and it was wrong,” McQueary testified when asked what he told Curley and Schultz. “There’s no question in my mind that I conveyed to them I saw Jerry with a boy in the showers and that it was severe sexual acts.”
McQueary acknowledged that he “did not see insertion or penetration”, but maintained “it was very clear it looked like there was intercourse going on.”
Sandusky, who by then was retired but maintained a significant presence around the football program, was barred by the administration from bringing boys onto the campus, McQueary said he was told 4-5 days later. No one, including McQueary, went to the police with the information.
“In my mind it was like speaking to a DA,” McQueary said in regards to the meeting that included Schultz, who was head of the university police force as part of his job description.
After speaking to his father the night of the shower incident, McQueary went to the home of Paterno the following morning to speak to the coach. McQueary testified that he told Paterno what he saw in the shower of the Lasch football building was “extremely sexual in nature” and without a doubt made it clear to Paterno that what he had witnessed between Sandusky and the boy -- both of whom were naked -- was a sexual act. “Out of respect” for the coach, McQueary testified, the words “sodomy” or “anal intercourse” were not used.
As for Paterno’s reaction, McQueary testified that the coach “was shocked and saddened, slumped back in his chair and said sorry you had to see that, it’s terrible.” Paterno added that McQueary had “done the right thing” in coming to him with the information.
Another eyebrow-raising note that came out of McQueary’s testimony was his initial interaction with Paterno following the 2002 incident. When McQueary first phoned Paterno and informed him there was something they needed to talk about, the coach’s response was that “I don’t have a job for you if that’s what it’s about, so don’t bother coming over if that’s what it’s about.”
Shortly thereafter, McQueary was promoted from grad assistant to administrative assistant with the football program before being named wide receivers coach in 2004.
Following his second meeting with Schultz, McQueary testified that he never again spoke to anybody at the university about the alleged molestation, although Paterno did ask him 2-3 months later if he was OK. Based on the reactions of Schultz and Curley, McQueary testified, he thought his information was taken seriously and the two would “investigate closely and follow up with me.”
McQueary also testified that he never confronted Sandusky about what he’d allegedly witnessed, either in the locker room when he first saw the former coordinator in the shower with the young boy or in the years afterwards.