Newly Released Sandusky Documents Allege Joe Paterno, Greg Schiano Knew of Abuse

A liability dispute between Penn State University and its insurance carrier over who should pay out the settlements in the wake of molestation allegations against Jerry Sandusky continues to reveal previously unknown claims against the former defensive coordinator. Today, Judge Gary Glazer unsealed documents that include the allegations of a then 14-year-old boy who said Sandusky sexually assaulted him and that Joe Paterno dismissed the allegations when told about it. The witness said he personally told Joe Paterno about the incident, while other assistants were nearby. According to the deposition, the legendary coach dismissed it, saying he had to prepare for the upcoming football season.

The victim was deposed two years ago while Penn State was settling claims, but he never made the allegations in court. In the deposition, he testified that he met Sandusky at a football camp on campus in 1976.

While showering with half a dozen other boys in a university locker room, he said, Sandusky inserted his finger into the boy's anus. When the boy reacted, Sandusky replied, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was getting that close," he recalled in his deposition.

Unsettled by the encounter, the boy approached several staff members of the camp, he testified.

"They expressed concern but that was it," he said in his deposition. So he decided to approach Mr. Paterno directly after spotting him in a hallway of an athletic building.

"I specifically asked to speak with him," the man testified. "Person to person, it was just the two of us, but there were several people within three, four, five feet."

The man testified that he was shocked by Mr. Paterno's response, recalling that the iconic coach told him that he didn't want to hear about any of that kind of stuff because he had to focus on the upcoming football season.

Wick Sollers, attorney for the Paterno family, responded to the release saying that "there are numerous specific elements of the accusations that defy all logic and have never been subjected to even the most basic objective examination," but did not elaborate on what those elements might be. Last week, the university made the attorney who mediated the settlement claims, Kenneth Feinberg, available to reporters and he noted that while a settlement payout factors in much more than simply the merit of a claim, all those who received a payment provided documentation to substantiate the claim. This victim was paid a settlement by Penn State.

Another set of released documents show that assistant coaches Greg Schiano and Tom Bradley were also aware of Sandusky's abuse. Schiano, currently the defensive coordinator at Ohio State, was a defensive assistant from 1990 to 1995 and Bradley, currently the DC at UCLA, was an assistant at Penn State from 1979 to 2011.

In 2015 testimony, Mike McQueary, the former receivers coach who claims he told Paterno he witnessed Sandusky rape a boy in 2001, said he "briefly" discussed Sandusky with Bradley and that the long-time assistant "knew of some things." McQueary also testified that Bradley had another assistant come to him with a similar story to McQueary's, and that assistant turned out to be Schiano.

"… He said another assistant coach had come to him in the early '90s about a very similar situation to mine, and he said that he had -- someone had to come to him as far back as the early '80s about Jerry doing something with a boy."

McQueary said Bradley identified the other coach as Schiano, the former Rutgers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach who is now the Ohio State defensive coordinator.

When asked whether Bradley provided any details about what Schiano reported to him, McQueary replied, "No, only that he had -- I can't remember if it was one night or one morning, but that Greg had come into his office white as a ghost and said he just saw Jerry doing something to a boy in the shower. And that's it. That's all he ever told me."

Update: via Adam Schefter, Greg Schiano flatly denied Bradley's account as testified to by McQueary:

In response to deposition, Greg Schiano said: "I never saw any abuse, nor had reason to suspect any abuse, during my time at Penn State."
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 12, 2016

Update 2: Likewise, Tom Bradley has completely denied McQueary's sworn testimony.

Ex-PSU DC (currrent UCLA DC) Tom Bradley's statement: pic.twitter.com/0c0ZATTmt8
— Paul Myerberg (@PaulMyerberg) July 12, 2016