Ex-Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky threatened boy after assault, claims accuser

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 today.

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 US 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.

Earlier today, the father of former assistant coach Mike McQueary told the jury details of a phone call he had with his son after the former Penn State quarterback allegedly saw Sandusky performing a sex act on a young boy in a locker room shower.

John McQueary told the court he approached former university vice president Gary Schultz about the allegations to follow-up on his son's report to the university. The elder McQueary said Schultz told him he'd heard "noises" previously about Sandusky misconduct.

Schultz and the school's former athletic director each faces charges of failure to report suspected child abuse and perjury related to their grand jury testimony about Sandusky. Both maintain their innocence.

John McQueary's testimony ended with an unusual exchange with one of Sandusky's attorneys. McQueary apparently couldn't recall testifying at the preliminary hearing for Schultz and athletic director Tim Curley, even after the attorney showed McQueary a transcript from the hearing.

Two other alleged victims have already testified, describing in graphic detail encounters with the coach that happened after they met him through his charity for at-risk youth.

Yesterday, the teen identified by prosecutors as "Victim 1" struggled to retain his composure while recounting the humiliation and fear that accompanied alleged abuse at Sandusky's hands.

The boy, now 18 and a recent high school graduate, said sleepovers in a bedroom in the basement of Sandusky's State College home escalated into kissing, fondling and oral sex. Eventually, he testified, Sandusky said it was his turn to reciprocate the act of his alleged molester. He said he could not resist.

"I don't know how to explain it, I froze," he said. "My mind is telling me to move but I couldn't do it, I couldn't move."

Sandusky, 68, has denied the allegations. Authorities say he abused the boys in hotels, at his home and inside the football team's headquarters.

Sandusky's attorneys have suggested his accusers have financial motivations for coming forward.

AP