THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS ALERT FROM 6NEWS AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS:
Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and school administrator Gary Schultz have stepped down amid allegations of an explosive child-sex abuse scandal and cover-up in Happy Valley.
In a brief statement released after an executive session of Penn State’s Board of Trustees, university President Graham Spanier said late Sunday that he had received a request from Curley to be placed on administrative leave so he could devote the time needed to defend himself perjury and other charges.
Schultz is stepping down and going back into retirement. He was named senior vice president and treasurer from 1993 to 2009 and returned this year until a new person could be found.
The two men were charged Saturday after a grand jury investigation of former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. He’s been charged with sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years.
They deny the allegations.
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Former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was arrested Saturday morning and charged with 40 counts of sex crimes.
6News was the only news source there as Sandusky appeared before a Centre County magistrate. He arrived and left the hearing in the company of his attorney.
Authorities said Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and another school administrator have also been charged with perjury and failure to report suspected abuse in an investigation into allegations that Sandusky sexually abused eight young men.
Curley and Penn State vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz were expected to turn themselves in Monday. Schultz’s position includes oversight of the university’s police department.
–RELATED STORY: University responds to allegations–
A criminal docket posted on the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System Web Portal showed that felony charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16, as well as indecent assault, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children charges were filed against Sandusky.
Attorney General Linda Kelly called Sandusky “a sexual predator who used his position within the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys.”
Sources told 6News that this latest round of legal action follows a two-year grand jury investigation that started in Clinton County, where a teen accused Sandusky of inappropriate contact.
Kelly and Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan will discuss the details of Sandusky’s child sex crimes investigation during a news conference on Monday at 1 p.m., at the Attorney General’s Office in Harrisburg.
According to a news release, Kelly and Noonan will review the investigation by State Police and the Attorney General’s Office “into charges that Sandusky sexually assaulted at least eight young boys between 1995 and the present, including several victims who were assaulted in the football locker room showers on the Penn State University campus.”
Kelly and Noonan will also discuss perjury and other criminal charges filed against Curley and Schultz — who allegedly learned of Sandusky’s behavior in 2002, but failed to report it to authorities and later provided false testimony to an investigating grand jury.
Sandusky founded the Second Mile charity in 1977 which, according to the foundation’s website, helped children across Pennsylvania to build self-confidence and physical and personal success.
In a written statement, a representative of The Second Mile told 6News, “Nevertheless, as an organization that is committed first and foremost to the safety and well-being of children we serve and consistent with The Second Mile policy, Jerry Sandusky has had no involvement in The Second Mile’s children’s programs and services since he made us aware of the allegations against him in November of 2008.”
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