MARTIN ROGERS

Arrest of Jerry Sandusky's son reopens old wounds

Martin Rogers
USA TODAY Sports
Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky arrives for an appeal hearing at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa.

There was never anything good to come out of the sickening sexual abuse scandal that saw former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky convicted of multiple crimes against children in 2012 and imprisoned for the rest of his days.

That face, grim and unapologetic, became a mugshot that embodied evil. It made us question so much, from how we care for our children to how we love our sports and our colleges, to what we are prepared to forgive and how much guilt should be cast on previously beloved enablers of sin.

If there was one shred of hope that could be taken from that time, it was that Sandusky would never again see freedom, and in theory be powerless to cause any more damage.

If only it were that simple.

Jerry Sandusky's son arrested, charged with child sexual abuse

On Monday, Pennsylvania police announced Sandusky’s son, Jeffrey, had been accused of child abuse hauntingly similar to that conducted by his father. And, just like that, the scars were once again picked open.

According to court records, Jeffrey Sandusky is charged with 14 counts, including criminal solicitation and corruption of minors. The records stated that the two victims were minors with whom Sandusky had daily contact and that he is accused of asking one to send him nude photos via text message. Once turned down, Sandusky asked the victim to erase the messages, records show.

“No, we don't need to talk and we aren't going to,” the victim responded. “You did what you did and I'm not going to give you a chance to try to justify it. You literally tried to guilt me into doing it and you even told me specifically what I 'needed' to do. You know who does that? Rapists and abusers… I don't know how many times I need to tell you no and to stop before you get it.”

It is also claimed Jeffrey Sandusky attempted to persuade a 16-year-old girl to give him oral sex in 2013.

Child abuse is the most uncomfortable and paralyzing of topics, everything from the acts themselves to the chilling process of predators "grooming" their potential victims. To even think about it tortures the mind and distresses the soul.

Such behavior doesn’t run in the blood, whatever folk wisdom might say, and in any case, Jeffrey Sandusky was adopted.

“I don’t believe there is a gene for molestation,” Dr. Patricia Speck, a professor at the University of Alabama-Birmingham’s school of nursing with 30 years of clinical practice in the field of sexual violence.

Jeffrey Sandusky is 41 and therefore bound to legal behavior and responsibility for his own actions. If he is found guilty he deserves punishment under the full force of the law.

A mug shot of Jeffrey Sandusky.

“He should not see the outside of a prison cell for the rest of his life if these allegations are true,” Matt Sandusky, another of the six children adopted by Jerry Sandusky and his wife Dottie, told NBC on Monday.

However, it will be impossible for many to avoid the thought that this is not mere coincidence, that something in the younger Sandusky’s life was impacted by what he heard, saw or suspected. The notion that Jeffrey Sandusky experienced something, witnessed something, was exposed to a line of thinking or even had deep demons drawn out of him by a scandal that has cursed a family name.

Not one shred of the blame on Jeffrey is lessened if so. If Jerry Sandusky’s actions, either recent or historic, had a part to play in his son’s alleged activity the culpability is not halved or replaced. It is – to borrow a legal phrase – joint and several.

Either way, the Sandusky name is back in the news, again for alleged behavior that is unspeakably awful.

And for victims of child abuse, even those who never encountered Sandusky or barely even heard of him, the emergence of another high-profile case will cause them to revisit haunting memories.

I have an acquaintance who experienced sexual abuse from a youth sports team manager as a teenager. Now in his early 40s, he has a happy and content life, but any time such matters are in the spotlight the wounds reopen, and the world seems less safe again.

For the victims of Jerry Sandusky, young men who displayed such bravery in coming forward against a then-beloved football coach, the nightmare is most likely back today, as if it ever truly went away. The issue and the story, let’s be honest now, disappeared from our consciousness soon after it was off our news feeds, from the time a poisoned old man in an orange jump suit was taken away to languish.

Not for the victims, not a chance. Solace? Maybe. Closure? Perhaps never.

Penn State’s handling of the Jerry Sandusky scandal was far from perfect and Monday’s revelation will make State College wonder if it will ever be rid of that tarnished shadow.

I have a friend, a Penn State alumni, who adores his university. He is the most noble and loyal of men – who vowed at age nine to become a pediatric doctor when he saw his younger brother suffering with cystic fibrosis – and is about to graduate medical school. He will spend his career saving the lives of children. His school’s name has been blighted by a man who ruined them. It is not fair to him; it's exponentially less so for those victimized by Sandusky.

Who knows what is next, but the name Sandusky is so toxic that his Jeffrey Sandusky's case surely will not disappear from our view any time soon.

It is another chapter to an horrific and seemingly eternal tale, one that didn’t end when the perpetrator was put away, or when they took down Joe Paterno’s statue, or even when the school was made to pay for its shameful treatment of whistleblower Mike McQueary.

It is still going.

As horrible as it is to consider, Jerry Sandusky's damage is not done yet, even as he rots in jail.

READ THE CRIMINAL COMPLAINT