Louis Freeh Report: What Investigation Reveals About Jerry Sandusky Scandal

Louis Freeh’s investigation into Penn State’s handling of Jerry Sandusky’s crimes shows a complete failure of leadership by university officials.

Freeh, a partner at Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan, was commissioned by PSU to look into the circumstances surrounding the crimes and how the most powerful people at the university handled the situation. 

Freeh is a former head of the FBI and a United States district court judge, and the full report can be found here, courtesy of USA Today.

The report singles out university president Graham Spanier, vice president Gary Schultz, athletic director Timothy Curley and head football coach Joe Paterno.

In a press conference on July 12, Freeh said the following, per ESPN.

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Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State. The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized.

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The report itself is a thorough 267-page document that details these officials’ roles in ignoring and concealing Sandusky’s crimes. This was not a criminal investigation, as Freeh is a private citizen.

However, the report does show illegal activity. Failing to report Sandusky’s actions to authorities violates federal law. The report states the following (page 16).

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…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 the authorities, the University’s Board of Trustees, the Penn State community, and the public at large. 

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Perjury charges have already been brought against Shultz and Curley, but the report could lead to more indictments for both men, as well as charges against Spanier, as noted by NBC News legal analyst Wesley Oliver. Paterno passed away this January. 

An often-used saying is that the cover-up is always worse than the crime. That is not the case with this scandal, given the nightmarish nature of Sandusky’s crimes.

But the actions of these four men were morally wrong and illegal. The 430 emails and roughly 3.5 million documents used as evidence in the report show this.

There was a systematic failure on all levels of the Penn State organization to stop a child rapist. The reputation of the university and its employees was placed above the safety of innocent children.

While the blame can spread to every person who witnessed Sandusky’s actions, the responsibility ultimately falls upon the men with the most power. With the facts laid out in the Freeh report, it is now clear that Spanier, Schultz, Curley and Paterno are all culpable in a failure to protect children from a sexual predator.