Penn State Football: 1998 Jerry Sandusky Investigation Report Published

As reported last week, the initial investigation into Jerry Sandusky’s alleged child abuse came to a halt in 1998, when the case was closed without charges filed. Conflicting reports about whether Sandusky had made inappropriate contact with the alleged victim were produced in the days preceding the case closure, and it’s thought that they directly influenced the closure.

NBC News has acquired the entire case file on Sandusky from that 1998 investigation, however, and it is a picture-perfect example of how an investigation of seemingly obvious abuse can fall apart without evidence and a fully cooperative accuser.

When that alleged victim is a child, “fully cooperative” is usually a fairy tale to begin with.

According to the report (direct link to PDF), the alleged victim first told both his mother and psychologist Dr. Alycia Chambers (a psychologist that the alleged victim had been seeing regularly before that) that Sandusky had established a pattern of gift-giving, isolation and intimate contact—both clothed and unclothed. The alleged victim’s recounting of one incident in the Penn State showers led the psychologist to believe that Sandusky was a predator that was grooming the alleged victim for assault.

She told police that Sandusky was a “likely pedophile” and recommended that he be monitored by police.

The ensuing investigation saw the alleged victim become more and more reluctant to discuss his interactions with Sandusky, to the point where another psychologist (Centre County Mental Health and Children & Youth Services consultant John Seasock) met with the alleged victim. Afterwards, he reported basically none of what the alleged victim had told Dr. Chambers.

With that, Seasock advised that he did not believe any sexual assault had occurred, and Sandusky’s statements to the mother of the alleged victim remained consistent with the boy’s story: that the two had showered together and perhaps touched, but it was nothing sexual.

The case was closed shortly thereafter, and Sandusky walked away free.

It should be noted that one of the people responsible for closing the case said he’d never seen Chambers’ report, so there was an obvious breakdown here somewhere, too. But in reading through the entire report, it almost seems like an inevitable conclusion by the end that based on what police were told by all parties involved, they really had no choice but to recommend that the case be closed.

Sometimes, that’s just how it happens.