gets worse/better
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/penn-state-scandal-jerry-sandusky-victim-mother_n_1108979.html"He didn't come out and say anything directly about Jerry at first. He started telling me that he was upset about his school and his grades and that he felt everyone hated him. At first I thought he was just saying what any child says when they're stressed out or in trouble. I reassured him that no one in the school hated him. That's when he told me that they did, because he was always getting pulled out of class."
Victim One then explained to his mother that he was being taken out of school several times a week, sometimes daily. When she pressed him, he explained that Sandusky wanted him to leave the school with him.
She said she immediately knew something was wrong.
"I didn't know about that," she said, shaking her head slowly at the recollection. "I was never aware that he [Sandusky] did that."
According to both Victim One and his mother, it was the assistant principal and varsity football coach Steve Turchetta who authorized and granted Sandusky this access, despite a lack of parental permission or notification.
Turchetta defended his actions, according to the grand jury indictment, saying that it wasn't unusual to "call a Second Mile student out of activity period at the end of the day, at Sandusky's request, to see him."
With her son being taken off school property on a frequent basis without her permission, and his expressed concern about Sandusky being a "sex weirdo," Mother One said she contacted the school.
"I didn't know how to start the conversation with the high school counselor because I didn't know how to come out and say, 'I think Jerry Sandusky is doing something to my kid,'" she explained. "I finally said to the counselor, 'You're a mother. I'm a mother. I have a gut feeling that something isn't right.'"
Mother One explained that her son was clearly troubled by Sandusky and wanted the school to talk with him. She also informed the high school principal, Karen Probst, that she didn't appreciate the school allowing Sandusky to take her son anywhere, and demanded that the school help to stop the visits.
But according to Mother One, the school acted as if there was nothing to be concerned about.
"The principal just waved it off, saying, 'You know, it's Jerry. He's around the school a lot and talks a lot with Second Mile kids. He has a heart of gold.' I was furious. They were defending this guy."
Mother One said she stopped arguing when she realized the principal wasn't willing to admit to any wrongdoing. She then asked that a counselor speak to her son, to see if he'd open up. The school agreed.
A few hours later, her phone rang. It was Probst, who she said asked her to drive to the school immediately.
Mother One already knew where this was going.
Reaching the counselor's office, she saw her son sitting in a chair and crying uncontrollably. He was, she recalled, in "an absolute meltdown."
Then, she said, the principal entered the room.
"The principal said that my son thought something inappropriate might have happened with Jerry. And of course, I instantly lost it."
As her son spoke between sobs, Mother One's worst fears were confirmed. Victim One said he was terrified, and that he thought things would only get worse.
Mother One had heard all she needed to. "Then we're going to call the police," she recalled saying. She looked at the counselor and principal, expecting them to nod, or to agree. Instead, she claims, they told her to think about it, and asked her how it would affect her family.
"I repeated the line three times. I said let's call the police. Right now. Let's do it. And they continued to stare at me."
As his mother described it, her son rocked in his chair and shook his head, looking as if he was about to have a nervous breakdown. Still sobbing, he shouted: "See! They don't believe me!"
Mother One said the counselor and the principal, both women and both employees of the public school system, didn't respond. They didn't offer condolences of any sort, she said.
"I remember saying, 'I'm not playing. This isn't funny. I mean seriously, look how upset he is! Something happened.'"
Mother One said the principal stood her ground.
"Jerry has a heart of gold, he's been around all these kids and you really should just go home and think about what this is going to do to your son and your family if you do that," Mother One recalled the principal saying.
"At that point, I had had enough. I told him that we were leaving. He grabbed his backpack and we just left the women sitting there."
As she drove home, trying to maintain her composure in front of her son, she said she called a close friend who worked with the state's Children's Youth Services program. The friend agreed to meet them at their home, and then took them to the Services center.
That's where she met Dr. Mike Gillum, a licensed psychologist with a private practice in Williamsport, Pa., who has also worked with the state on child abuse cases. He's worked closely with Victim One and Mother One ever since that first meeting.
According to Mother One, Gillum called the principal at the high school to inform her that Sandusky was now the subject of an abuse investigation and therefore could not be allowed near the school or Victim One.
As the full story emerged, Victim One revealed that for nearly two years he was subjected to various sexual acts by Sandusky. Some had even occurred at the middle school and high school, where Sandusky had been given complete access to him by school officials.
On Nov. 7, Pennsylvania State Attorney General Linda Kelly praised Central Mountain High School for "doing the right thing" in the Sandusky matter. The indictment states that the school immediately called the police when it was informed of the abuse.
