A jury of Spanier’s peers found the former President guilty within a week. In addition to the testimony from Curley and Schultz, the prosecution introduced “smoking gun” email between the three written in 2001 after learning of a second incident involving Sandusky showering at the football facility with a minor. The recovered, cryptic email did not refer to the now-imprisoned coach by name: Sandusky was referred to as the “subject”, the “person involved”, and the “person.”
Instead of making a report to child welfare, the three men met with Sandusky and the conversation included a reference to the administration’s knowledge of the first incident from 1998 wherein Sandusky was counseled against engaging in molestation in the future. In his February 27, 2001, email, Spanier agreed that meeting and counseling was a “humane and reasonable way to proceed” yet he warned that the “only downside for us is if the message isn’t ‘heard’, and we then become vulnerable for not having reported.” How ironic!!!
The criminal conduct of the three men, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, has cost Pennsylvania taxpayers roughly $240,000,000. That figure includes crisis consultants, fines, Spanier’s legal fees, and approximately $93,000,000 to 30 or so victims.
Head football coach, Joe “Joe Pa” Paterno, was intimately involved in the cover-up and he died two months after Sandusky’s arrest. Thus, he was never criminally charged.
