Paterno shocked by Sandusky allegations

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Penn State coach Joe Paterno said he's shocked by sexual abuse charges brought against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky and deeply saddened by the allegations.

Paterno in a statement issued Sunday night by his son, Scott, said he's troubled that someone he thought he knew may have harmed young people. Paterno said he and wife, Sue, have devoted their lives to helping young people reach their potential.

"The fact that someone we thought we knew might have harmed young people to this extent is deeply troubling," he said. "If this is true we were all fooled, along with scores of professionals trained in such things, and we grieve for the victims and their families. They are in our prayers."

Paterno, a Hall of Famer and the winningest coach in Division I history with 409, is not implicated in the case.

"Joe Paterno was a witness who cooperated and testified before the grand jury," said Nils Frederiksen, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office. "He's not a suspect."

Paterno testified that he was informed by an assistant coach in 2002 that he had witnessed an incident in the shower of the team locker room. Prosecutors have said Paterno had passed on the information to athletic director Tim Curley.

But Paterno said specific actions alleged to have occurred in the grand jury report were not relayed to him.

"It was obvious that the witness was distraught over what he saw, but he at no time related to me the very specific actions contained in the grand jury report," Paterno said in the statement. "Regardless, it was clear that the witness saw something inappropriate involving Mr. Sandusky. As coach Sandusky was retired from our coaching staff at that time, I referred the matter to university administrators." Sandusky retired from his assistant's job in 1999. He is charged with sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years.

Curley and Gary Schultz, the university's senior vice president for finance and business, were charged Saturday with failing to report to state and county officials that a witness told them he saw Sandusky sexually abusing a naked boy in the locker room showers in 2002.

Schultz and Curley were both also charged with perjury. Lawyers for all three men have said they are innocent. However, last night Penn State's board said Schultz and Curley would step down in the wake of the allegations.