Gerald Arthur Sandusky (born January 26, 1944) is an American convicted serial child molester and retired college football coach.

In 2011, following a two-year grand jury investigation, Sandusky was arrested and charged with 52 counts of sexual abuse of young boys over a 15-year period from 1994 to 2009.

Sandusky's father Arthur worked with youth service programs for over 30 years, mostly as director of the Brownson House in Washington, Pennsylvania, a community recreation center for children.

"[11] Sandusky attended Washington High School, where he was a good student and standout athlete, playing baseball, basketball, and football.

[12] He was a leader on his junior high basketball team that went undefeated through the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League playoffs in his final season there.

[12] Sandusky's classmates during this period describe him as a studious "loner" who "never dated in high school" but was a popular and handsome athlete.

[12] Sandusky attended Penn State, where played college football under Rip Engle for the Nittany Lions, starting at defensive end from 1963 to 1965.

[22][23] On December 8, 2017, he was given a sentence of three-and-a-half to six years in prison after "pleading guilty to pressuring a teenage girl to send him naked photos and asking her teen sister to perform a sex act.

[29] After retirement, Sandusky hosted many summer football camps and was active in the Second Mile, a children's charity he founded in State College, Pennsylvania, in 1977.

[34] Former Eagles head coaches Dick Vermeil and Andy Reid, former Phillies owner Ruly Carpenter, Matt Millen from ESPN, actor Mark Wahlberg, Arnold Palmer, and football player Franco Harris, among others, served on the Honorary Board of Second Mile.

[37] On November 4, 2011, a grand jury[38] that had been convened in September 2009, or earlier,[27] indicted Sandusky on 40 counts of sex crimes against young boys.

"[44] At the preliminary hearing for Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, McQueary testified that Paterno was "shocked and saddened, kind of slumped back on his chair."

[46] Curley and senior vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz (who oversaw the Penn State police department) called McQueary to a meeting a week-and-a-half later.

[47] In McQueary's testimony he stated that during the meeting he relayed in "graphic detail" what he had witnessed in the locker room showers at the Lasch Building.

[59] On November 14, in a televised phone interview on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams, Sandusky admitted to correspondent Bob Costas to having showered with underage boys and touching their bodies, as he described it "without intent of sexual contact."

"[64][65]In the days following the interview, several potential victims contacted State College lawyer Andy Shubin to tell their stories, with one claiming Sandusky had abused him in the 1970s.

Atkins testified that the letters written by Sandusky to the accusers were consistent with this disorder, rather than "grooming" behavior as alleged by the prosecution.

[81][82] On June 18, 2012, it was reported that during the full-day court recess the previous Friday, prosecutors had contacted NBC "asking the network to re-authenticate a full unedited transcript" of the Bob Costas interview from November.

[7] Subsequently, sources close to the investigation conducted by the Office of the State attorney general have stated that the prosecutor never threatened to have Matt Sandusky testify at trial, and that "prosecutor Joseph McGettigan relished the opportunity of taking-on Jerry Sandusky in cross examination and had promised Amendola early on that they would not call any additional rebuttal witnesses".

Cleland immediately revoked Sandusky's bail and remanded him to the Centre County Correctional Facility to await sentencing.

In pronouncing the sentence, Cleland said that Sandusky was a particularly dangerous breed of child molester because he masked his manipulation and abuse of children behind a respectable facade.

[93] At the same hearing, Cleland granted prosecutors' request to have Sandusky declared a "sexually violent predator" under Pennsylvania's version of Megan's Law.

After interviewing over 400 people and reviewing over 3.5 million documents, the crux of the report's findings, which were released July 12, 2012, state: Taking into account the available witness statements and evidence, the Special Investigative Counsel finds that it is more reasonable to conclude that, in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at the University — Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley — repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky's child abuse from authorities, the University's Board of Trustees, the Penn State community, and the public at large.

[101]The Freeh Report states that although the "avoidance of the consequences of bad publicity" was the main driver in failing to protect child abuse victims and report to authorities, the report outlines other causes as well, among which were: "A striking lack of empathy for child abuse victims by the most senior leaders of the University"; a failure of oversight by the board of trustees; a University President "who discouraged discussion and dissent"; "a lack of awareness of child abuse issues"; and "a culture of reverence for the football program that is ingrained at all levels of the campus community".

[106] The report asserts that these emails demonstrate that in 1998 Paterno knew of the investigation of Sandusky, and followed it closely;[107] and suggest that it was Paterno, "long regarded as the single most powerful official at the university," who persuaded Spanier, Curley, and Schultz not to formally report Sandusky to law enforcement or child welfare authorities.

[110][111] The report criticizes Paterno for his failure to "alert the entire football staff, in order to prevent Sandusky from bringing another child into the Lasch Building".

Over the next ten-year period, Sandusky "was frequently at the Lasch Building working out, showing up at campus events that Penn State supported ...

[112][115] Beyond the question of building access, the report details that as part of Sandusky's retirement agreement he could "continue to work with young people through Penn State" for more than a decade, including Second Mile events on campus, youth football camps, etc.

[122] On August 24, 2012, as reported by the Associated Press, the individual known as "Victim 1" who testified at the trial of Sandusky brought suit against Pennsylvania State University.

They argued that "newly-discovered evidence of State College attorney Andrew Shubin’s work with two separate civil clients gives new weight to defense claims that lawyers, counselors and police were actively coaching people into making allegations" against Sandusky.