Son says Sandusky abused him
Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky leaves the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa. (June 21, 2012) Credit: AP
BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- Lawyers for one of Jerry Sandusky's adopted sons said the man has told authorities the former Penn State assistant football coach abused him.
The lawyers issued a statement Thursday naming Matt Sandusky, one of Jerry Sandusky's six adopted children, and saying that the 33-year-old had been prepared to testify on behalf of prosecutors at his father's sex abuse trial.
"During the trial, Matt Sandusky contacted us and requested our advice and assistance in arranging a meeting with prosecutors to disclose for the first time in this case that he is a victim of Jerry Sandusky's abuse," Andrew Shubin and Justine Andronici wrote in the statement.
"At Matt's request, we immediately arranged a meeting between him and the prosecutors and investigators."
The statement was released after jurors began deliberating Thursday afternoon, with talks expected to last into the evening.
"This has been an extremely painful experience for Matt and he has asked us to convey his request that the media respect his privacy. There will be no further comment."
The statement, which did not detail the nature of the alleged abuse against the son, was issued after jurors in the ex-coach's child sex abuse trial began deliberating 48 charges against him.
The jurors are sequestered during deliberations.
Lawyers for Matt Sandusky and prosecutors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Karl Rominger, one of Jerry Sandusky's lawyers, did not comment.
Matt Sandusky went to live with Sandusky and his wife, Dottie, as a foster child and was legally adopted by them as an adult.
Shortly after the former coach's arrest in November, Matt Sandusky's ex-wife went to court to keep her former father-in-law away from their three young children. Jill Jones successfully obtained a restraining order forbidding the children to sleep over at their grandparents' home.
At about the same time, details emerged that Matt Sandusky had attempted suicide just four months after first going to live with the couple in 1995. He had come into the home through The Second Mile charity, which Jerry Sandusky founded.
During testimony last week, an accuser known as Victim 4 said Matt Sandusky was living at the Sandusky home at the time he stayed there overnight.
When asked by prosecutors whether Jerry Sandusky ever engaged him in a soap battle in the showers, he recounted the time when he and Matt Sandusky had been playing racquetball.
After they were done, he said, they went back to a locker room. Matt got undressed and got into the shower and then Victim 4 and Sandusky followed him in there, the man known as Victim 4 testified.
