Day four of the trial of ex-Penn State football coach
Jerry Sandusky opened this morning with alleged Victim 6 describing an "uncomfortable" encounter he had with Sandusky in the shower room of the football team's training facility in May 1998 when he was 11.
Victim 6, now 25 and a recent graduate of a Bible college, said he introduced himself to Sandusky at a picnic for Sandusky's Second Mile charity.He said he was awed by the encounter. "I was really excited to meet him," he said. "I was a Penn State fan. Anything to do with Penn State, I wanted to be a part of it."
Soon afterward, Sandusky picked him up at his house for a workout and tour of the training center, he said. He said he immediately felt awkward when Sandusky reached over in the car and put his hand near his knee.
"I remember feeling it was a bit odd, Victim 6 said. He said he pulled away.
After driving to the training facility, Sandusky showed him the player and coach locker rooms, and allowed him to try on helmets and other equipment, They then "wrestled a little bit on the carpet."
"I felt uncomfortable with it. But it was Jerry Sandusky, so I didn't want to make him mad," Victim 6 said.
He said Sandusky then showed him to the exercise room, where he worked out alone for about 15 minutes.
Victim 6, a State College resident, said after that brief workout Sandusky told him it was time to shower. He said that when he entered the shower room, Sandusky was already in the shower and had the shower next to his running.
Victim 6, who was visibly uncomfortable as he testified, said he went to another shower across the room, but Sandusky beckoned him to come to the shower next to his. "I didn't want to be in the shower with him. It felt really awkward," he said.
He said he went over anyway. Sandusky told him jokes and tickled him, he said,"He said he was the tickle monster," Victim 6 testified. He said Sandusky also grabbed him from behind in a bear hug and lifted him up to the shower head to rinse the soap from his hair.
"I don't even remember being put down," he said under questioning from prosecutor Joe McGettigan. "Everything else is blocked out."
Still, he said that at the time he didn't think anything wrong had occurred, even after his mother called authorities and he was questioned by Penn State University police. No charges resulted from that initial investigation.
Victim 6 said he continued to participate in activities with Sandusky and got football tickets and other gifts from him. He said he also joined in gatherings at Sandusky's home.Questioned by defense attorney Joe Amendola, Victim 6 said he couldn't recall any overt sexual contact occurring during the shower encounter. When Amendola asked if Sandusky had an erection, Victim 6 replied, "I tried very hard not to look down," and that he didn't know whether Sandusky had an erection.
He said he didn't like that his mother went to authorities. "I did not want to get him in trouble. I still wanted to hang out with him and go to the (football) games," he said.
He said he had a different attitude when the criminal probe reopened in early 2011. "My perspective changed, thinking about it as an adult," Victim 6 said, adding that he now sees the shower incident as "inappropriate."
Under Amendola's questioning,
he said he continued to have contact with Sandusky for years, even sending him Father's Day greeting in 2009 during which he thanked God for having Sandusky in his life.
"Did you think of him as a father figure?" Amendola asked.
"I'm not sure," Victim 6 replied.
He said he has hired a private attorney, but said he has no aim to benefit financially from the case. "I feel violated," he said, saying he has been on "an emotional roller coaster."
