'Sandusky called himself the tickle monster and hugged me in the shower': 'Victim 6' testifies about abuse in Penn State locker room

  • Investigator testifies that he recommended charges be filed against Sandusky in 1998 after mother of alleged victim came forward
  • Then-district attorney - who vanished in 2005 - disagreed with his findings
  • 'Victim 3' testifies that he was fondled twice by Sandusky but hurt as ex-coach never contacted him after he was sent to a group home

By Associated Press

Published: | Updated:

A man testified today that Jerry Sandusky called himself the 'tickle monster' and embraced him in a Penn State shower in 1998 when he was 11, an encounter that prompted an investigation but ended without any charges being filed.

The then-district attorney's decision not to bring charges against the Penn State assistant football coach was a mistake, an investigator testified.

The alleged victim, now 25, told jurors Sandusky hugged him in a locker room shower, lathered up his back and shoulders then lifted him chest-to-chest to a shower head to rinse out his hair.

More testimony: Jerry Sandusky emerges from a car driven by attorney Joe Amendola for the fourth day of his trial at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania

More testimony: Jerry Sandusky emerges from a car driven by attorney Joe Amendola for the fourth day of his trial at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania

The man said the shared shower happened after a brief workout at a campus gym - even though he hadn't broken a sweat.

His mother went to authorities when she saw her son come home with wet hair, although the inquiry spawned by her report didn't lead to any charges.

One of the investigators who interviewed the boy and Sandusky at the time, Ronald Schreffler, told the court he felt charges were warranted but that Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar disagreed.

Gricar cannot explain his decision - he disappeared in 2005 and was later declared legally dead.

Man or 'monster'? An investigator testified today that Sandusky called himself the 'tickle monster'

Man or 'monster'? An investigator testified today that Sandusky called himself the 'tickle monster'

The man who testified about the shower encounter is identified by prosecutors as Victim 6, and he is the sixth accuser to testify at Sandusky's sex abuse trial.

On cross-examination, the man testified that in recent years he and Sandusky exchanged text messages, sent notes for holidays and special occasions and last summer met for lunch.

He also told the court that Sandusky and his wife, Dottie, had supported a mission trip he took to Mexico.

When asked why he had decided to testify against Sandusky, the witness said he had been approached by investigators and asked to think more about the 1998 encounter.

'As I started to go over it in my mind I quickly realized, my perception changed thinking about it as an adult as opposed to an 11-year-old,' he said. 'That was inappropriate, what happened to me.'

Asked if he was looking for financial benefit from coming forward, the man replied, 'Zero.'

Also testifying late Thursday was Victim 9, who said he was 11 or 12 when he first met Sandusky in 2004.

Sandusky took him to Penn State football games and showered him with money and gifts, including a tennis racket and a running suit.

The teen testified that he ended up staying at Sandusky's home more than 100 times up until 2009, maybe even 150 or so, sleeping in the basement which had a water bed.

The sexual abuse began with oral sex and elevated into anal sex, he said.

He said: 'There was no fighting against it,' adding that he would sometimes scream and 'tell [Sandusky] to get off me.'

Frown: Sandusky looked a little worse for wear as he left court on the fourth day of his trial

Frown: Sandusky looked a little worse for wear as he left court on the fourth day of his trial

During his cross examination, the teenager said he screamed out for help at least once when Sandusky's wife, Dottie, was in the house, but he did not know if she heard him because he thought the basement was 'soundproof.'

'Nobody can hear you down there,' he said.

Sandusky faces 52 criminal counts involving alleged assaults of 10 boys over a 15-year span.

He denies the charges, which brought disgrace to Penn State and led to the ouster of both the school's president and Hall of Fame football coach Joe Paterno.

Schreffler, a former Penn State police officer who now works for the Department of Homeland Security, said he overheard Sandusky tell Victim 6's mother that he wished he was dead as investigators listened in on a conversation set up for the woman to confront him.

Missing: Ex-Centre County DA Ray Gricar, who declined to file charges against Jerry Sandusky in 1998, has been missing since April 2005

Missing: Ex-Centre County DA Ray Gricar, who declined to file charges against Jerry Sandusky in 1998, has been missing since April 2005

During his cross-examination, Sandusky's attorney presented a transcript of an interview with the accuser in which the boy said there was no sexual contact in the shower.

Gricar was last seen April 15, 2005, about nine months before he was to retire as district attorney, after telling his girlfriend he was going for a drive.

His car later was found abandoned at an antiques market.

Gricar's laptop was found three months later in the nearby Susquehanna River, without its hard drive, which was found separately - and upriver - that October.

Investigators later said Gricar had done searches on another computer about how to destroy a hard drive, without explaining why that might be relevant to his disappearance.

Also on Thursday, state investigator Anthony Sassano said authorities identified some of Jerry Sandusky's alleged abuse victims through pictures and lists seized from his home and office and that the university was 'not very quick' in getting investigators information as part of the probe.

The jury also heard from Victim 3, who has alleged that Sandusky hugged him in the shower and fondled him on two occasions.

The accuser said that he met Sandusky in 1998, and slept on a waterbed in the basement 'about 50 times,' and that's where he would 'touch me and rub me,' the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The victim also described taking showers with Sandusky, saying: 'He would wash my shoulders, my butt, my back. He would bear hug me with my back to him and my front to him,' according to the paper.

The man, now 25, said that he looked to Sandusky as a father figure and was distraught that the ex-coach never contacted him after he was sent to a group home to live.

'He just forgot about me, like I was nothing. I would pray he would call me and maybe find a way to get me out of there ... but it never happened.'

Sordid trial: Testimony has painted Sandusky, shown leaving court on Thursday, as a man who used his fame as a top assistant to Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno to hold sway over boys

Sordid trial: Testimony has painted Sandusky, shown leaving court on Thursday, as a man who used his fame as a top assistant to Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno to hold sway over boys

The trial is in its fourth day and jurors have heard from young men who claim Sandusky had inappropriate contact with them, sometimes at his State College home or in the showers of a campus locker room.

Testimony through the first three days of the trial painted Sandusky as a man who used his fame as a top assistant to Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno to hold sway over boys.

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

He faces more than 500 years in jail if convicted on all 52 counts of child sex abuse.

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

JERRY SANDUSKY'S SEX ABUSE ACCUSERS

VICTIM 1: Sandusky allegedly fondled him and performed oral sex on him multiple times, in his home and State College hotels.

The boy was 11-15 years old at the time. Sandusky was barred from his central Pennsylvania high school in 2009 after the boy’s mother alerted school officials, triggering the investigation that produced charges.

Charges: Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse (two counts), indecent assault, unlawful contact with minor, corruption of minors, endangering a child’s welfare.

VICTIM 2: A boy of about 10 that a graduate assistant, Mike McQueary, has said he saw being attacked by Sandusky in the team showers in February 2001.

Investigators have not been able to determine the boy’s identity. McQueary reported what he saw to head coach Joe Paterno, and Paterno’s handling of it contributed to the university board of trustee’s decision to fire him shortly after Sandusky was arrested in November.

Charges: Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, unlawful contact with minor, corruption of minors, endangering a child’s welfare.

VICTIM 3: Sandusky hugged him in the shower and fondled him twice, according to the grand jury report.

The incidents allegedly occurred between July 1999 and December 2001, at Sandusky’s home and in team showers. The boy was 12-14.

Charges: Indecent assault, unlawful contact with minor, corruption of minors, endangering a child’s welfare.

VICTIM 4: Sandusky is accused of repeated involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. Prosecutors say more than 50 alleged incidents occurred between 1996 and 2000, at the Sandusky home, hotels and university facilities, while the boy was 12-17.

He also traveled with the Sandusky family to bowl games in Texas and Florida.

Charges: Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse (three counts), aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, unlawful contact with minor, corruption of minors, endangering a child’s welfare.

VICTIM 5: Sandusky put his hand on the boy’s leg while in a car, they showered together and he placed the boy’s hand on his genitals, according to his testimony in court.

The alleged incident occurred in August 2001, while the boy was 12 or 13.

Charges: Indecent assault, unlawful contact with minor, corruption of minors, endangering a child’s welfare.

VICTIM 6: While showering together in May 1998, Sandusky allegedly grabbed him and said, 'I'm going to squeeze your guts out,' according to the grand jury.

The boy’s mother complained when he came home with wet hair, prompting a police investigation at the time that did not result in charges. The boy was 11.

Charges: Indecent assault, unlawful contact with minor, corruption of minors, endangering a child’s welfare.

VICTIM 7: They showered together and Sandusky bear hugged him in 1995-96, and more than once he put his hands down the waistband of the boy’s pants, according to the grand jury.

Sandusky did not touch his genitals, the jury said.

The boy was 9-11. Attempted indecent assault, unlawful contact with minor, corruption of minors, endangering a child’s welfare.

VICTIM 8: Boy of about 11 to 13, seen in late November 2000 by a university janitor allegedly being subjected to sexual abuse by Sandusky in the team showers.

The janitor now has dementia and is not available to testify, but a co-worker testified this week, telling juros what the janitor told him. The boy has not been identified by investigators.

Charges: Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, unlawful contact with minor, corruption of minors, endangering a child’s welfare.

VICTIM 9: Part of second set of charges. Boy was subjected to sexual abuse by Sandusky at the Sandusky home, a State College hotel and other locations between July 2005 and December 2008, according to prosecutors. He was 12-15 at the time.

Charges: Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse (two counts), indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors, endangering a child’s welfare.

VICTIM 10: Part of second set of charges. Boy was subjected to sexual abuse between September 1997 and July 1999 at the Sandusky home and car and at an area pool.

He testified Wednesday and claimed that Sandusky said he’d never see his family again if he said anything. The boy was 11.

Charges: Involuntary deviate sexual intercourse (two counts), indecent assault, unlawful contact with minor, corruption of minors, endangering a child’s welfare.

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