The person identified as “Victim 10” in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse case spoke to the media for the first time Tuesday, telling his story of abuse to Wendy Saltzman, a reporter with WPVI-TV in Philadelphia.
Though he did not reveal his identify, the now 26-year-old man told Saltzman that the Sandusky began abusing him in 1997 when he was just 11 years old. “Victim 10” said he first met the former Penn State defensive coordinator through The Second Mile, a charity Sandusky started himself to help underprivileged children.
“He was very careful with what he did,” “Victim 10” told Saltzman. “He plotted it out.”
“Victim 10” told Saltzman it was only a couple of months after he met Sandusky that Sandusky began molesting him. He said he eventually put a stop to his abuse by Sandusky after three years.
“He wanted me to perform sexual acts on him, and I refused to do it,” “Victim 10” said to Saltzman. “He got very angry. That’s when he threatened me. And then he turned around like nothing ever happened and said, ‘I’m sorry I said that. I love you.’”
On why he didn’t report the abuse, “Victim 10” told Saltzman he was terrified, and wondered how he could stand up to someone looked so highly upon in the community.
“Jerry took advantage of that in a very confusing time for him and manipulated him into doing unspeakable acts,” Joe Feller, the attorney for “Victim 10” told Saltzman. “”In three years, this man suffered horrific abuse.”
“Victim 10,” who did testify at Sandusky’s criminal trial in June 2012, said Sandusky’s sentence of 30 to 60 years in jail is part of the closure for him. Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of child sex abuse.
After the abuse ended, “Victim 10” told Saltzman he turned away from his family and turned to drugs. “Victim 10” said he would have nothing to say to Sandusky now.
“He knew what he did,” he told Saltzman. “He knows what he did was wrong. So why did I have to sit there and tell him that when he knows it was wrong?”
