|
Former Penn state assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky pinned down a young foster child and performed oral sex on him, threatened to keep him from seeing his family if he reported what happened and then later told him he loved him, the accuser testified Wednesday.
The alleged victim is one of two who came forward after Sandusky was initially charged in November with assaulting eight boys, a scandal that jolted one of the most prestigious U.S. sports programs. Sandusky faces a total of 52 criminal counts involving alleged assaults over a 15-year span.
The man, now 25 and called Victim 10 by prosecutors, told the court Sandusky assaulted him in the basement of the former coach's State College home in the late 1990s, then threatened to keep him away from his biological family.
``He told me that if I ever told anyone that I'd never see my family again,'' the accuser testified, adding that he believed Sandusky's wife, Dottie, was home at the time.
Later, Sandusky offered a more conciliatory tone.
``He apologized for saying that,'' the witness said. ``He told me he didn't mean it and that he loved me.''
The man said Sandusky also assaulted him on other occasions in 1998 and 1999, including once at a pool and another time in the same basement that involved mutual oral sex.
Under cross-examination, the man testified that he was the roommate of another Sandusky accuser at a camp sponsored by Sandusky's charity, The Second Mile.
The alleged victim also acknowledged having spent nearly two years in state prison for a robbery and involvement with drugs and alcohol, but said he was doing better now.
``I'm married. I'm expecting'' a child, he said.
Another alleged victim testified later Wednesday that he endured sexual abuse at Sandusky's hands but only told his parents of the assaults last year when interviewed by police.
The now-27-year-old man told jurors that he met Sandusky through his Second Mile charity and had more personal contact with him after attending a Penn State game with Sandusky's family.
The accuser said Sandusky was ``wrapping himself around me, holding me tightly'' when he slept over at his house. He described showering with Sandusky on a number of occasions and said Sandusky touched him beneath his clothes. (AP) |
