A man alleging he was sexually abused by former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky is seeking criminal charges.
The victim, whose name was not released at his attorney’s request, says Sandusky molested him while attending a football camp at the university in June of 1988.
The victim reported the alleged abuse to state police in 2011, according to a news release from his attorney, but no action was taken. He decided to file a private criminal complaint in September 2014.
“You’re basically held to the same standards that a police officer would be,” says Altoona attorney Daniel Kiss, who represents the alleged victim. “You have to fill out the same forms a police officer would and submit the complaint to prosecutors to investigate.”
Because of the ongoing conflict in the Centre County court system, Kiss filed the complaint through the office of attorney general Kathleen Kane. The victim and his family were interviewed as part of an investigation, says Kiss, but the complaint was denied this month.
“They determined that they believe the statute of limitations has ran and the charges would not be able to be prosecuted because of that,” Kiss says.
But the legal battle rages on. When a private criminal complaint is denied, the complainant has a right to appeal the decision with the common pleas court.
“It’s very technical legal work because the statue of limitations in Pennsylvania has changed about five times since 1984,” Kiss says. “We line our argument up pretty clearly and the reality is that it’s a close call. They wouldn’t have said no if there wasn’t some merit to their argument and we wouldn’t be appealing if there wasn’t some merit to our argument.”
According to the news release, Kane’s office told Kiss in its denial letter that it found his client to be a “compelling witness” and did not raise any concerns regarding the credibility or validity of the allegations.
Kiss says that an appeal will be filed on Wednesday. Both Kane’s office and Sandusky’s legal representation have not yet responded to requests for comment.
This is reportedly the first instance in which an alleged victim didn’t meet Sandusky through his charity, The Second Mile. Sandusky was found guilty on 45 charges related to child sexual abuse in October 2012. He is currently serving 30 to 60 years in prison.
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