STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Former Penn State administrator Gary Schultz kept a secret file containing documents relating to alleged child-abuser Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach.
That's according to court documents filed in the perjury and failure to report case against Schultz, Penn State’s former vice president of finance, and university athletic director Tim Curley.
Sandusky is on trial in Bellefonte, Pa., accused of sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years beginning in the 1990s.
Documents kept in the Schultz file — recently unearthed by the university and handed over to investigators — are “inconsistent with statements made by Schultz and his codefendent, Curley, to the Grand Jury,” according a motion filed by the attorney general’s office in the Dauphin County, Pa., court handling the case.
The prosecution’s motion, filed in response to an attempt by Schultz’s attorney to have the charge of perjury dropped, also reveals that Penn State recently handed over emails between Schultz, Curley and “others” — allegedly including former Penn State president Graham Spanier, according to an NBC report — that contradict their testimony before the grand jury.
NBC reported on Monday one subject of the emails, sent in 2001, reveal that Spanier and Schultz decided it would be “humane” to Sandusky to not involve the authorities in one alleged case of abuse.
The news organization said the emails could incriminate Spanier.
It was in 2001 that Mike McQueary, a former Penn State player and coach, allegedly encountered Sandusky having sex with a boy in a shower on the Penn State campus.
McQueary testified Tuesday for the prosecution in the Sandusky trial, and said he reported what he saw to the late head coach Joe Paterno, and then to Schultz and Curley.
Schultz’s attorney had filed a motion to quash in January, asking the court to dismiss the perjury charge against his client because the attorney general had not identified what false statement or statements Schultz had made to the grand jury.
Monday’s reply to that request said the attorney general provided a list of false statements to the defense March 30.
Furthermore, “Schultz told so many lies during his Grand Jury testimony that it is unfair for the Commonwealth to allege and prove so many lies,” prosecutors wrote in the motion.
The prosecution’s motion made note of the fact that it had issued a subpoena to Penn State months ago for any evidence relating to Sandusky, his employment at the university and any investigation of his alleged criminal conduct. Yet it just received the secret file, which, according to prosecutors, was “created, maintained and possessed” by Schultz.
A statement released Tuesday by a spokesperson for former FBI director Louis Freeh, the head of Penn State’s internal investigation into the university’s handling of the Sandusky allegations, said it was Freeh who handed over the emails to the attorney general’s office.
“The ongoing independent investigation led by Judge Freeh discovered these emails in the course of its work,” the spokesperson said. “These emails were then provided to the State Attorney General, consistent with the investigation’s prior commitment to share certain information. These materials will be fully discussed in the report to the Task Force, and beyond that Judge Freeh and the investigation team has no further comment.”
Schultz’s lawyer, Tom Farrell, and Caroline Roberto, Curley’s attorney, acknowledged Monday that high-level discussions took place between their clients and Spanier concerning allegations of child sex abuse against Sandusky.
“The information confirms that as they testified at the grand jury, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz conscientiously considered Mike Mc Queary’s reports of observing inappropriate conduct, reported it to the University President Graham Spanier, and deliberated about how to responsibly deal with the conduct and handle the situation properly,” the statement said.
Penn State spokesman Dave La Torre said in a statement, "The University has responded to several subpoenas and gathered documents from many sources across the institution. As soon as any relevant documents were discovered, the University immediately provided them to the office of the Attorney General and the Freeh Group. Out of respect for the ongoing legal process, the University cannot discuss specific information as it pertains to these issues."
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