Sandusky: ‘I am innocent of the charges’

Associated Press

NEW YORK

A former Penn State football assistant coach charged with sexually abusing eight boys in a scandal that has rocked the university said Monday that there was no abuse and that any activities in a campus shower with a boy were just horseplay, not molestation.

In a telephone interview scheduled to be aired Monday night on NBC News’ “Rock Center,” Bob Costas asked Jerry Sandusky if he’s a pedophile and Sandusky responded, “No.”

Sandusky, once considered veteran coach Joe Paterno’s heir apparent, was arrested more than a week ago and is charged with sexually abusing eight boys, some on Penn State property, over a 15-year span.

“I am innocent of those charges,” the 67-year-old Sandusky said. “... I could say that I have done some of those things. I have horsed around with kids I have showered after workouts. I have hugged them, and I have touched their legs without intent of sexual contact.”

Asked if there was anything he did do wrong, Sandusky said, “I shouldn’t have showered with those kids.”

The interview with Costas was Sandusky’s first public comment on the charges. He had previously maintained his innocence through his attorney.

Sandusky’s remarks came the night his attorney, Joe Amendola, told CNN that his client was just behaving like “a jock.”

“Jerry Sandusky is a big overgrown kid,” Amendola said. “He’s a jock, and for anybody who’s ever played sports, you get showers after you work out. ... What I’m being told happened is that Jerry was in the shower with this kid, the kid was messing around, having a good time, you had [former graduate assistant and now wide receivers coach Mike] McQueary come in and see that. He felt uncomfortable.”

The Sandusky interview came on a day when it was announced the president of The Second Mile had resigned. Jack Raykovitz, a practicing psychologist who had led the group for 28 years, said he hoped his resignation, accepted Sunday, would help restore faith in the group’s mission.