Someone was going to get blamed, CSS were the easiest, cheapest way out ? Simply put ? Yeah
Corbett, PSU "Cover Up" & where that narrative came from
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Man, This is a LOT of effort expended on the idea of a cover up over absolutely nothing. Here's the key, salient fact you need to understand about all this; At the time the grand jury was convened the OAG had exactly ONE victim who had been identified, Aaron Fisher, and he had nothing whatsoever to do with Penn State. NOTHING. There was NO connection to Penn State whatsoever nor any evidence that Penn State was involved at all on any level when the Sandusky grand jury was convened, NONE, leave alone any idea that there might have been a cover up at Penn State that a grand jury might or might not be able to prove. At the time the grand jury was convened the ONLY connections between victim and perp were the Second Mile and also the Central Mountain High School, so if it's a matter of truth that the grand jury was convened in part to prove a cover up it would have had to have been a cover up at either or both of those two institutions. How'd that work out?
It's still a matter of discussion for what the real reason might have been that Corbett convened a grand jury to investigate Sandusky. Detractors claim it was a stall tactic in effort to make Aaron Fisher and his camp lose interest and go away. Supporters claim it was to shake out more victims. Count me among the former. Whatever. The grand jury had been in place for (I'm guessing) about 18 months or so before there was any connection to Penn State established at all (and again leave alone whether or not those connections might indicate a cover up at Penn State), so if this quote is legit and Corbett does mean that the GJ was about proving a cover up at Penn State, then he's really showing his ass. And by that I mean he's pretty much telling us that he opportunistically used the grand jury for ulterior purposes other than its intended purpose and saw that it was steered it away from its originally intended purpose of removing a predator from the streets. Had there been a legit concern for busting the guilty on the part of a possible cover up at Penn State, then the correct thing to do would have been to convene a separate grand jury to investigate that claim since the two issues, Sandusky's sexual abuse of children and whether or not Penn State was aware of that abuse and covered it up, were separate issues entirely. conflating the two was just a matter of purely self-serving, opportunistic, personal politics for goals that were consistent with justice on neither of those two issues. What was Corbett really up to? Either way, he's a liar.
Grand juries are a tool of the prosecution and do whatever the prosecutor leads them to do. When Corbett said that he needed a GJ to "prove" a coverup, what he meant was that he needed a GJ to put a seal of approval on his cockamamie conspiracy theory so he could take down Spanier.
I think you're putting way too much on the word "prove". Corbett's speaking from a time after the cover up charges were made so he wouldn't be using uncertain language like "suspected" or "possible" cover up. The same way McQueary became so certain of sodomy in 2011 when it's clear back in 2001 it wasn't certain. Corbett is basically saying if you're investigation suspects a cover up that a Grand Jury in theory keeps the investigation secret & prevents those who may be covering up from being tipped off. You know, like how 2nd Mile started shredding files after learning of multiple victims. The only thing in 2009 they knew about 1998 was that Centre County's DA office looked into it & they didn't have a file. The file was saved under "Administration" & not under the usual police file location so that's why they didn't find it. Scott Paterno believes Dave Jones got his tip from Fina in July 2010 & Jones claimed to Scott a month or 2 later he was told there was a cover up. Jones thinks he was told about 2001 but nothing Jones mentions indicates it wasn't possibly 1998 he was told about instead. It's simple if you follow the chain from 1998. Mark Smith worked with Gricar in 1998-->tells Madeira about it when Fisher case comes in-->either Smith or Madeira tell someone at OAG about 1998 (Gillum mentions OAG knowing of 98 in June 2009 in Fisher's book)--> Dave Jones claims he was told of V2 incident (but could be 98) in July 2010--> couple mths later Jones tells Scott Paterno he was told PSU/Joe were involved in a cover up (Scott says Jones & Fina use the same YMCA). In Moulton report Fina mentions knowing partial info about 1998 before the police file was discovered.
December 16, 2009:
MS. ESHBACH: As of now, we haven’t found any other victims. We’re still
trying. I suspect, although I don’t know for sure, that perhaps when this becomes
public, we might have some other people turn up. That sometimes happens, but
we have been trying pretty hard to find some other folks and so far have not. We
are pursuing one other, just so you know.
A JUROR: When do you see this moving forward from out of here? I’m just
curious.
MS. ESHBACH: As soon as I can write a presentment for you guys. They want
– my bosses want us to pursue every angle. They have said, you know, go where
the evidence leads. So depending upon whether anything comes out of, for
example, looking at Penn State, we would look there before we actually gave you
guys a presentment to consider; but I have to do that before you guys are done.
A JUROR: Have you pursued anybody from Penn State prior to when he was a
coach up there?
MS. ESHBACH: Not yet. Not yet. It is kind of – we’re going to ask, but we sort
of suspect that we are going to get a door closed in our face, that there are no
records or anything like that. That is what we bring people in here for. 89
Eshbach asked Penn State for records the following month, issuing a subpoena on
January 7, 2010, for Sandusky’s employment and personnel records. In a memorandum to her
superiors about the subpoena, Eshbach explained:
The reason for the issuance of the subpoena to Penn State is because we
have some suspicion that the university may have become aware of Sandusky’s
inappropriate behavior towards the many young boys he was in contact with while
he was employed at the university, through his creation and participation in the
Second Mile Program. Sandusky was routinely surrounded by young men,
although we have been unable to develop any victims other than the one minor
victim who has testified before the Grand Jury. However, it is worthy of note that
89 Thirtieth Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, In re: Notice No. 29, Transcript of Proceedings, Witness:
Anthony Sassano, Dec. 16, 2009, at 8-9.
51
Sandusky left Penn State as the defensive coordinator of the very successful,
Division One-A Penn State Nittany Lion Football team at a relatively young age
and rather abruptly. Although [it] is obvious that he was not going to be Joe
Paterno’s successor at any time in [the] near future at the time of his retirement, it
was at the time odd that he retired so abruptly. We therefore are seeking any
records which might indicate that his reason for leaving the university’s employ
was other than by his own choice. I recognize that it is possible that the records
might be sanitized concerning this but believe after consulting with the
investigators and many of you, that is a lead we must pursue.
As far as searching police records they probably didn't feel the need to subpoena them as those departments pretty much cooperate with each other. Unfortunately Harmon was probably the only one who knew the 1998 records were under the "administration" title & Harmon retired in 2005 so hence the difficulty finding the file. I think if you asked a detective who is familiar with these types of investigations they'd tell you subpoenas usually wouldn't be necessary between law enforcement departments. A simple phone call asking them to check their police files would work. It's pretty clear though that the OAG knew something about 98 early on & lied to Moulton investigators about not knowing.
I haven't seen this before. This is almost a full year before the anonymous tip which identified MM? And it sure sounds like TSM is already getting a pass.
But my comment was in response to your comment:
According to Moulton (page 17) the OAG didn't learn about the 1998 case until "late 2010 or early 2011." So did Madeira fail to tell the OAG about it? Or did the OAG know about the 1998 case and have no interest in it? The OAG didn't even start issuing subpoenas until December 2010. So again, the OAG did not find files because it wasn't looking for them. The OAG did not find other victims in 1999 because it did not have any interest in finding them - they could not even be bothered to subpoena Centre County CYS in 1999.
Yep. The OAG investigator wanted to subpoena Centre County CYS in Sept 1999 to see if there were any complaints in that county, and that request was nixed (Moulton page 15). It is clear as day that at the outset AG Corbett had no interest in finding other victims or prosecuting Sandusky. That didn't change until late 2010.
It didn't change until the case was about to explode, then he acted.
Mark Smith wasn't part of the 98 investigation, he just worked there & knew some things from it. He or Madeira likely told the OAG (Probably Fina. It was Fina who decided to turn it into a Grand Jury investigation) what little they knew. Like I said before, they probably didn't need subpoenas to have the other departments check their files for them (Harmon did it for Schultz). They probably assumed all records were quashed as is the usually procedure for CSA cases that aren't indicated by CYS or DPW. For whatever reason they have kept their early knowledge of 98 from Moulton & that is where me & you certainly agree. There's something fishy about why they pretended not knowing about 98 for so long. I agree there's no urgency on the part of Fina or Corbett but Eshbach was the one pushing the case forward.
I was under the impression that the MM tip was the excuse for putting PSU in their crosshairs. This would seem to indicate that they knew about Mike a full year before the tip or they already had a plan to divert attention to PSU. Neither surprise me, but this is the first I am seeing any evidence of this.
BTW that 1st subpoena mentioned in the Eshbach quotes I posted was in Jan 7, 2010, around 9mths after OAG took the case.
As ADA Karen Arnold once said,
"There are aspects of the Sandusky case this Grand Jury ignored that will bite them in the ass if the case goes forward. You have to wonder what's going on."
"There are aspects of the Sandusky case this Grand Jury ignored that will bite them in the ass if the case goes forward. You have to wonder what's going on."
Lots of speculation in there...and four years later, the charges of conspiracy were dropped. So unless you have evidence.
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That was a subpoena for Sandusky's "employment and personnel records."
That doesn't seem like the correct documents to search for if you are trying to find additional victims.
Why didn't they subpoena Penn State police? Centre County CYS? The Centre County DA?
Come on. We know the answer to that question. It wasn't that they couldn't find the files. It was that Corbett didn't want them found.
According to Moulton (page 16) "no grand jury subpoenas were issued" from March 2010 to December 2010.
The OAG was not finding other victims because it was not really looking for them. #truth
Agree.
I am working on Part II of Corbett's Grand Jury Lie.
The Moulton Report timeline shows no active investigation was taking place until November 2010....but I'll provide more insights than Moulton's report.
Another way to look at this is EITHER way, whether Corbett was telling the truth or he was lying, is that it proves he foot-dragged the investigation.
I take it you haven't read Keystone Corruption. Brad Bumsted, a prominent member of the PA media who covers Harrisburg politics and the author of the book, constantly was praising Tom Corbett for his corruption fighting. However, Corbett's "corruption" investigations were nothing more than smokescreens that allowed the real corruption in Harrisburg to continue unabated.
It still sickens me...that POS guzzling vodka at the AleHouse, smirking, smiling, "We got 'em'"....thank God i wasnt there...
Recall that the mother of Victim 6 was told by the police that the OAG wasn't going to prosecute her son's case. Corbett wanted to take down PSU solely on 2001, without having to bring the 1998 Centre County fiasco into it. The grand jury presentment made no mention of Centre County's role in the 1998 investigation.
The evidence of Centre County CYS staying involved in the 1998 investigation up until the end -- allegedly found in Schultz's file notes -- was not included in the Freeh Report. The Freeh Report stated CYS recused itself early in the investigation. If Freeh had access to the full Schultz file, then he knowingly lied about CYS's role.
As for the 1998 police report, you can take it to the bank that it was in the OAG's hands prior to January 2011. IIRC, Fina stated he was aware of it in the fall of 2010. BTW, the 1998 State College police report has not seen the light of day either. I suspect that if you compared the SCPD report to the PSU report, you'd find that the PSU report is missing some rather critical information.
Agree. Quite a bit of "gymnastics" there to avoid mentioning the The Second Mile was Sandusky's means of contacting children and the place he went to after "abruptly retiring" from PSU.
I have to say that Mouton calling the investigative delays "inexplicable" was accurate, however, he should have been more specific to state that investigators should have been at Second Mile in the earliest weeks of the investigation, based on the evidence they had.
I'm not trying to prove a PSU conspiracy. I already know that's BS. I'm citing multiple sources that indicate the OAG knew something about 1998 back in 2009 & probably suspected a cover up.
When asked by Moulton why they didn't subpoena CYS earlier they said they assumed their investigators would've already been told if CYS files existed. This suggests they simply contacted the other departments (CYS, DPW, State, County & Campus police) & asked them to check for files. It's pretty common among law enforcement departments to share info. Eshbach explains what the Jan 2010 subpoena was seeking & it's pretty obvious in her explanation they suspect some kind of PSU cover up.
Pass is an understatement. By Dec 2009, TSM has had nearly a year to cover it's tracks.
I think we agree that Eshbach's justification for a PSU subpoena for employment records- that talks around TSM's role in the scandal -- strains credulity. Moreover, while Sandusky's retirement from PSU was abrupt, by 1995 anyone who followed PSU football knew that Ganter had surpassed Sandusky in the succession plan for the next head coach.
I think we also agree that the AG had the 1998 police report in its possession by June 2009. That being the case, the 1998 police report wouldn't provide the AG with cause to believe there was a PSU cover up because PSU contacted the local DA and Centre County CYS right from the get go. The police report also shows that the PSU police were interacting with the State College Police on the 1998 investigation. So, again, the 1998 report doesn't provide reason to suspect a PSU cover-up.
Next, the 2010 subpoena of employment records would hardly be indicative of a grand jury investigation of a cover-up. Corbett said the grand jury was needed to coerce witnesses. If that was truly the case, why wasn't he hauling everyone from PSU who touched the 1998 case down to Strawberry Square to testify??? Of course, the theory that the AG was suppressing the 1998 report would tie their hands in justifying subpoenas for those individuals.
That leaves us with the not so far fetched idea that the AG knew about the 2001 shower incident by or before June 2009. The AG/Corbett could have learned about that incident from Centre County CYS if Schultz's and Courtney's memories are correct. They/he also could have learned it from some of the big GOP donors (e.g., Shaner, Poole, etc) from TSM.
Given that the anonymous email tip showed up the DAY AFTER Corbett was elected governor, it lends credence to the theory that Corbett was sitting on the 2001 information until after he got elected. It also makes sense that he didn't do anything with the 1998 and 2001 information sooner because, until October 2010, he had no incentive to make the case about PSU. It wasn't until October 2010 that Corbett got upset with Spanier -- and swore out his vendetta to get him fired -- after seeing him at a PSU football game with his Democratic opponent, Dan Oronato.
The bottom line is that the Sandusky investigation was sent to the grand jury to die a slow, silent death. It wasn't until October 2010 that Corbett figured out he could use the grand jury to take out Spanier. At that point, the evidence the AG was sitting on came into play. Even so, the AG tried to avoid using the 1998 information to make its case against PSU. Had McQueary been able to give them direct knowledge of Spanier's role in the 2001 decision, I suspect the 1998 police report would have never seen the light of day.
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Ray....unbelievable...it disgusts me that we live in a state that is OK ith burying this thing. How can people be so stupid to not investigate a kid's organization that a pedo is working at....
One would expect this is especially true given that Corbett was Madeira's BOSS at the OAG (Corbett HIRED Madeira as his Deputy AG after winning AG Election in mid-2000s on the GOP TICKET!!) before Madeira won the election for Centre County DA as the GOP Candidate WITH AG Corbett's endorsement who campaigned for him in the district election! (also keep in mind that TSM Chairman of the Board, a recognized Centre County GOP acholite who held GOP Fundraiser Parties for Corbett at his private home including during his Gubernatorial Campaign in 2009-2010!!!).
Utterly absurd and ridiculous to claim that Corbett didn't know everything Madeira knew given their arm-in-arm GOP relationship and the FACT that Madeira is the very party who orchestrated the referral of the case to AG Corbett, and his clearly corrupt "SWIGJ", after it was referred to him by the Clinton County DA who received it from the DPW via V1's formal CSA Complaint via their Clinton County CYS Office headed by Gerald Rosamilia!
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It is also utterly absurd and ridiculous to believe the CC DA's office didn't have a copy of the 1998 police report and that the report didn't make it into Tom Corbett's hands when Madeira transferred the case. According to everyone who knew Gricar, he was meticulous about reviewing case evidence before deciding to charge the case, thus the 1998 PSU report had to be reviewed by Gricar and in the CC DA's hands.
Madeira's shady dealings in the 2005 Chris Lee case, telling the key witnesses against Lee that Centre County wouldn't pay their transportation costs from California to Pennsylvania to testify, undermined the case. Madeira then told the public that the witnesses were unwilling to testify. Interesting that Lee was arrested just two weeks before Gricar disappeared. Anyone get the feeling that Gricar was about to blow the whistle on something rotten in Centre County??
In short, Madeira isn't the least bit credible and neither are Corbett and Fina. The OAG officials involved in the case undoubtedly lied to Moulton during his investigation. And the PA State Police wouldn't even talk to Moulton.
As I mentioned earlier, the Moulton Report left out some rather important details --- like that Aaron Fisher provided the police with a lead about Victim 9 very early in the investigation but the police never followed the lead. And in my Report 3, I wrote about many other leads that should have been uncovered to find victims had the police done the most routine police work -- like checking criminal records of the kids identified by the mother of Victim 6.
Bottom line -- the Sandusky investigation wasn't supposed to end with Sandusky being charged.
I don't think the town businessmen cared about who got taken down, as long as it wasn't them. They certainly didn't make a peep when Spanier & Paterno got fired. It wasn't until PSU peed on Heim's "parade" that anyone from TSM had anything to say about the firing of Paterno.
As for the OG BOT & Baldwin, they were making sure the Sandusky investigation didn't roll up on them once they learned about it in 2009. From 2009 to November 2010, they were simply keeping it at an arms length and being unhelpful. When Corbett decided to go after Spanier -- via McQueary, that's when the BOT/Baldwin skullduggery began. Baldwin not telling C,S, & S about subpoenas for documents & keeping the 1998 police report from C,S, &S before they testified at the grand certainly qualifies as evidence of a "set up."
The Surma Vendetta apparently spells out the quid pro quo....Corbett got Spanier's scalp and Surma got Paterno's. The BOT made it happen.
it will never be a 30/30....this thing will have to be a 180/180 at the very least...
Ummmm, well not only that, but in Pennsylvania the AG is the MANDATED REGULATOR for NPO's and Charities as to "Charitable and Non-Profit Fraud" and "Consumer Protection" (e.g. intentionally DEFRAUDING THE PUBLIC - via fundraising and capital support campaigns by using the massive amount of $$$ raised via these endeavors for purposes other than the NPO's STATED MISSION!!!). IOW, Corbett was OBLIGATED to investigate The Second Mile the moment V1's Formal CSA Complaint via DPW's Clinton County CYS Office landed upon his desk via Madeira -- this is especially so given that DPW's investigation was already complete by the time it landed on AG Corbett's desk and the State Regulator who held TSM's Operating License had already found The Second Mile as well as it's Founder and most powerful "Control Person" at the time GUILTY AS CHARGED and "Indicated" Sandusky and BANNED TSM from all Clinton County and Clinton County Schools via their formal "Judicial Hearing Process"!!! Again, Corbett as AG was OBLIGATED via State Mandate to investigate The Second Mile (regardless if his "political benefactor", Poole, was the Chairman of the Board there) as soon as he learned of the DPW's Findings and Actions in March 2009 when the case landed on his desk via Madeira -- Corbett subsequently convened the SWIGJ in July 2009 (3-4 months later) specifically too provide a "cover-up" and excuse as to why he didn't investigate The Second Mile in March 2009 as soon as he learned of V1's Formal CSA Complaint made through the Clinton County CYS Office and his COUNTERPART REGULATOR, the Pennsylvania DPW's subsequent "FINDINGS AND ACTIONS" in the case via their formal "Judiciary Hearing" review of V1's Formal CSA Complaint (which were effectively "Gulity as Charged" for both Sandusky and TSM) in February 2009!!!
Corbett's bull$hit claim that he was looking for a "cover-up at PSU", when V1's DPW-filed CSA Complaint and Hearing Findings had ZERO to do with PSU, DOES NOT EXPLAIN why AG, and NPO Regulator, Corbett did not investigate The Second Mile as per his State Mandate in March 2009 when he learned about the allegations of V1 (e.g., that Sandusky had founded TSM, and ran TSM as the most powerful "Control Person", for the purpose of accessing at-risk children so he could groom and molest them - e.g., clearly "charitable fraud" relative to Sandusky's stated "social mission" to Pennsylvania when acquiring his "Charity License"!). The SWIGJ was a "cover-up" to cover for Corbett's failings as AG relative to clearly enumerated State-Mandated Obligations relative to investigating The Second Mile which he clearly failed! Not only did he fail to investigate TSM violating his State Obligations as AG, but he was taking a lot of money from the people running the fraudulent charity via "political contributions" (and who knows how else) which clearly could be considered a "bribe" not to investigate, which he did not.
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More than the balls....the courage to break the story, because if you're going to go down this road, you better have your head on a swivel relative to "your 6 O'Clock".
Patriot-News should just hire @rmb297 for a second Pulitzer that ironically cancels out the first.
It's gonna be great to see Corbett, Rod, Emmert and Freeh doing the perp walk, shackled in the cuffs trying to cover their faces
As ADA Karen Arnold once said,
"There are aspects of the Sandusky case this Grand Jury ignored that will bite them in the ass if the case goes forward. You have to wonder what's going on."
I agree there's currently no legitimate excuse for their foot dragging on TSM.
Based on the evidence we have the OAG likely learned of 1998 first from Mark Smith or Madeira. Neither knew the details so the OAG likely had an incomplete account as Fina mentioned he had prior to finding the report. They would have likely called CYS, DWP & State/County/Campus police to ask if they had files on 1998. I'm sure they wouldn't have needed subpoenas for those department's cooperation. Because Harmon was retired by then even if they called Campus Police the file which was under "administration" could've easily been missed. This apparent complete disappearance of files may be what openned the OAG's mind to the possibility of a cover up, not that they were convinced of one but that it was a possibility. Then there are the V2 rumors that may've made it to them in 2009 which may've also fueled a cover up theory. I believe Houser knew of the V2 incident in the mid-2000s & may've shared it with Eshbach via her husband before his anonymous email. I think Fina & Corbett as you said were hoping this case would die but Eshbach kept it going. Remember Fina's the one who decided to use a Grand Jury & Fina's the one Scott thinks told Dave Jones about a Sandusky cover up & then Eshbach's explanation for the Jan 2010 subpoena to PSU reads like a rough draft for their 2011 cover up narrative. Basically they put the cart before the horse by suspecting a cover up & then looking to prove it which is basically what Corbett revealed in that quote. Which any good investigator will tell you is the opposite of how you should do it.
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This is pure fiction. The files didn't "disappear." The Office of the Attorney General NEVER LOOKED FOR THEM until late 2010 or early 2011.
And as icing on the cake Madeira's office probably leaked to Sara Ganim: http://www.mandys-pages.com/writers-corner/r-r/188-da-office-sandusky-information-leak
