Jerry Sandusky's attorney said Wednesday that a young man at the heart of cover-up allegations against Penn State University officials told him he was not a victim and had no sexual contact with the former assistant football coach.
Defense lawyer Joseph Amendola told CNN contributor Sara Ganim that the young man, who was described in a grand jury report as being about 10 years old in March 2002, was in Amendola's office several weeks ago and said he believed he was the boy called "Victim 2."
The young man said nothing sexual occurred with Sandusky in the shower, according to Amendola.
"He said he had turned all of the shower heads on ... and water was running on the floor. He said he was surfing, going from one end to the other to slide across the shower floor," Amendola said.
First lawsuit filed against Sandusky
The lawyer said that three, perhaps four, of eight alleged victims mentioned in the grand jury report have either maintained friendships with Sandusky or visited him. "Victim 2" had dinner last summer with Sandusky, Amendola said.
According to grand jury documents, a graduate assistant told then-Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno in 2002 that he had seen Sandusky performing anal sex on a young boy in a football complex shower.
Paterno told Athletic Director Tim Curley, who told Gary Schultz, a university vice president, according to the grand jury report.
Curley and Schultz were each charged with one count of felony perjury and one count of failure to report abuse allegations about Sandusky.
According to Amendola, Sandusky contends that Curley told him that a person reported seeing the coach and a young boy in the shower. Curley described the incident as "horseplay" and that it made the witness uncomfortable.
Sandusky's "make-believe world"
Sandusky gave Curley the boy's name and phone number and said that nothing inappropriate had occurred, Amendola said.
That graduate assistant has been identified as assistant coach Mike McQueary, who has been placed on administrative leave.
Neither the boy in the shower nor Sandusky reported seeing McQueary, Amendola said Wednesday.
Sandusky, 67, is free on $100,000 bail. He is charged with 40 counts related to the alleged sexual abuse. He allegedly met the victims through The Second Mile, a charity he started. A preliminary hearing for Sandusky is scheduled for December 13.
According to Amendola, Sandusky has seen McQueary at charitable events, including those of Second Mile. There was never any tension between the two, the lawyer said.
Sandusky has maintained he did not commit the crimes and has not discussed a possible plea deal. Amendola said Sandusky has defenses to all the allegations.
"Right now he's presumed to be innocent, these are alleged victims," Amendola told Ganim. "The media has done Jerry a disservice by continuously referring to them as victims."
Amendola said he's told Sandusky that giving a bear hug to a youth in a shower was not a good idea.
People who know him well call Sandusky a "big overgrown kid," the lawyer said.
