Penn State Officials Face Trial In Abuse Case, radio interview on child molesters

Penn State Officials Face Trial In Sex Abuse Case
by Jeff Brady
December 17, 2011

Accused of trying to cover up Penn State’s child sex abuse scandal, two former administrators will face a trial on perjury charges. A judge made that decision at a preliminary hearing on Friday, as NPR’s Jeff Brady reports. Warning: This segment contains language that may not be suitable for all audiences. http://www.npr.org/2011/12/17/143886780/penn-state-officials-face-trial-in-sex-abuse-case

Penn State officials to stand trial in abuse case
By Mark Shade HARRISBURG, Pa  Fri Dec 16, 2011

(Reuters) – A judge ruled on Friday that two former senior Penn State officials must stand trial on charges of lying to a grand jury about what they knew of sexual abuse allegations against former coach Jerry Sandusky.

District Judge William Wenner decided there was enough evidence against former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and finance official Gary Schultz that they should be brought to trial. The ruling capped a court hearing where a key witness, Mike McQueary, testified in public for the first time that he saw Sandusky in a sex act with a 10-year-old boy in 2002.

The explosive allegations against Sandusky have shocked the university and the college-sports world, and focused national attention on the serious problem of child sex abuse. The story told by McQueary, a graduate assistant in the university’s football program at the time, is key to the case against the two Penn State officials and Sandusky.

This is because McQueary testified that he personally witnessed the abuse and then told his boss, former head coach Joe Paterno, who in turn told Curley. Even though McQueary’s account was passed up the line of authority at Penn State, no one told police and Sandusky’s alleged behavior continued for years.

Curley and Schultz deny that they lied to the grand jury and say that Paterno and McQueary only told them in general terms about the incident and not in graphic detail. Sandusky has been charged with 52 counts of child sexual abuse involving 10 victims over 15 years. The identity of two of the victims, including the boy in the shower, remains unknown, prosecutors said. Sandusky has said he is innocent….

“I believe he was sexually molesting the boy,” McQueary testified at the hearing in the Dauphin County Courthouse on Friday. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/17/us-crime-coach-pennstate-idUSTRE7BF01R20111217

Radio talk show host Keith Hansen interviews researcher and former therapist, Lynn Crook, M.Ed., on current issues related to child molesters.   Where do we find them?  How do they operate?  When should we decide what to do if our child is molested? http://vyzygothraw.com/audio/crook.mp3

Caylee Anthony ripple hits state, Witness Tampering at Casey Anthony Trial Alleged

Caylee Anthony ripple hits state By Jason Cato, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW Wednesday, July 13, 2011
A wave of legislation in response to the Casey Anthony verdict soon could touch Pennsylvania; a Philadelphia lawmaker said he intends to strengthen state laws to better protect children.

“I was motivated by the protection of children,” said Sen. Larry Farnese, a Democrat. “Nothing is more important to me as a legislator.”

Legal and child-abuse prevention experts question whether such laws would help because, they said, cases such as Anthony’s are rare. Anthony, 25, is scheduled for release from jail on Sunday. A Florida jury last week cleared her of charges she killed her toddler daughter, Caylee….

Farnese said he envisions “Caylee’s Law,” which would change concealing the death of a child from a first-degree misdemeanor to a third-degree felony with a maximum penalty of seven years incarceration and a $15,000 fine. Farnese plans to introduce another bill that would make neglecting to report a missing child to authorities a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine….

Lawmakers in at least 17 other states, including West Virginia and Ohio, are considering similar bills. A petition on Change.org urging such laws drew nearly 1.2 million signatures by Tuesday.http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_746454.html

Witness Tampering At Casey Anthony Trial Alleged By Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings 7/13/11 ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Authorities were looking into allegations of witness tampering during Casey Anthony’s murder trial, a Florida sheriff said Tuesday during a wide-ranging news conference with his top investigators in what he said was an effort to bring closure to a case that polarized the country.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings also revealed that prosecutors were considering perjury charges against Anthony’s mother, but a spokeswoman for the state attorney’s office later said they would not be pursued….
Anthony’s defense said Caylee accidentally drowned in the family pool and her father, a former police officer, helped cover it up. Anthony’s partying and shopping during the month before her daughter was reported missing was caused in part by her father’s sexual abuse, her attorneys said.

George Anthony denied the claims in court, and investigators said Tuesday they were rebuffed by the defense team when they tried to interview her about the allegations….

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/13/witness-tampering-casey-anthony_n_896806.html?icid=maing-grid7|maing10|dl1|sec1_lnk3|77564