The Nittany Nightmare: Paterno Fired- Sandusky’s Recorded Sting With Victims Mother Went Missing With Prosecutor Ray Gricar In 2005

WE ARE.. PENN STATE

The thorn in the paw in the largest criminal scandal in recent NCAA history, feels more like a railroad spike today.

The  winningest collegiate coach in American history got sacked yesterday in his 46th year.

The iconic former Penn State University head football coach leaves his legacy shamed by the alleged sexual assaults by Jerry Sandusky, the former defensive coordinator of 23 years, on his watch.

Graham Spanier, president of PSU was also fired.

According to the Pennsylvania Attorney General, Paterno is not facing criminal charges, no word yet on Spanier.

Charged in the scandal to date are:

Gerald “Jerry” Sandusky- 40 counts of felony child sexual abuse, released on $100,000 bond

Tim Curley- PSU Athletic Director and 1976 alumni- charged with perjury and failure to report

Gary Schultz- PSU Senior VP of finance and Business charged with perjury and failure to report

Not charged, but in my opinion, should absolutely be under moral indictment:

Mike McQueary-  Current PSU recruiting coordinator and wide receiver coach who witnessed the sodomy of a child by Sandusky as a 28 year old grad student. He ran home and called his daddy instead of police,leaving the child in the clutches of that monster.

(UPDATE 3:37PM The PSU Board does not plan to fire McQueary, but want him off the field although interim coach Bradley says he will be on the sideline.    Are you people nuts?  I really think the players have enough concerns without wondering if some radical will rush the sidelines to get at McQueary.  Not worth the security breach.)

Yes, that is correct, he witnessed the act in progress of the rape of a child and did nothing to stop it.

Earlier in the week, Jopa announced through a prepared statement that he would be retiring at the end of the season after 46 years at the helm of the Nittany Lions Division 1 dynasty.

While PSU alumnus roars turned into wails for the past week,  it appears this nittany nightmare is just the beginning of the story.

The sexual assault of a 10 year old boy by Sandusky in the shower of the Lasch Football Building during Spring Break  2002, witnessed by a graduate student was never reported to Ray Gricar , Center County Prosecutor on the record.

But was he made aware of it under the radar?

Anthony DeBouf, a district attorney working under Gricar,  says Gricar reviewed evidence and files privately and did not share any of the information with him, in 1998.

You read that correctly, in 1998, when the first alleged incident of Sandusky in the field house shower with a young boy was reported to University Police and the Centre County DA’s office.

According to Graham Spanier, recently fired PSU president,  an investigation was completed by a “child protective agency”  and University Police with the blessing of then PSU counsel Wendell Courtney.

Courtney was and is still an attorney of record for Second Mile.

Spanier said he thought the director of Second Mile, the grass roots charitable effort founded by Sandusky, was alerted through those efforts.

In 1999 Sandusky was offered and accepted an Emeritus status retirement package from PSU where he held full campus access privileges and an office in the very building of the alleged 1998 and 2002 incidents.

The 4th victim named in the indictment against Schultz, Curley and Sandusky claims that decision by Sandusky was precipitated  by a private meeting between he and Paterno.

Sandusky was bitterly upset after a meeting with Joe Paterno in which he was told by JOPA he would never be his replacement as head coach, and that he should retire.

Tony Gricar, Ray Gricar’s nephew, has since revealed that Ray participated in a sting with police where Sandusky admitted showering with a boy whose mother called University Police when Sandusky dropped her son off with wet hair and asked for forgiveness from the family, with the entire meeting surreptitiously recorded.

Gricar viewed police reports and two recorded conversations that Sandusky had with the juvenile victims mother and for reasons that have never been made public, elected not to file charges in the incident.

Approximately 6 weeks later, the case was closed without enough evidence to prosecute.  It is believed the victim had decided to refuse to testify against Sandusky and his Mother believed he would be persecuted in efforts to protect Sandusky and the elite PSU football program.

According to then University Police detectives Ronald Shreffler and Ralph Ralston, following a meeting with Jerry Lauro, investigator with the PA Dept of Public Welfare,  while the behavior was certainly inappropriate, neither victim made allegations of sexual contact rising to the level of criminal activity.

Gricar had nothing to work with.

So.. Was this the case Ray Gricar saw as “the one that got away” he wanted to pursue prior to his retirement?

Sandusky remained with Second Mile, in some cases recruiting it’s board members through last year.

Sandusky founded the Second Mile charity in 1977, a foster and group home environment for disadvantaged boys in various underprivileged social circumstances.  It is believed this was where Sandusky began the lure to prey on his child victims.  Sandusky retired from Second Mile in 2010,  while the grand jury investigation into his victimization of young boys got underway.

The current honorary board of Second Mile reads like the who’s who of ESPN including Andy Ried, head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, Matt Millen, ESPN sports analyst, Lou Holtz former head coach of Notre Dame University and yes, “Marky Mark”  Wahlberg.

Only yesterday did I realize I was on their advisory board. I have had no contact or correspondence with Second Mile or Jerry Sandusky since 2009 with the exception of thank you notes for one of their most successful events.

If the allegations are true, I, like the many good people who support Second Mile, am upset over being misled. However, the pain and sadness I feel for the abused children fills me with rage and anyone who enabled this to happen should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Coach Holtz

The development of charitable organizations as a means to not only groom victims but to take advantage of government funding and tax breaks for the privilege came under extreme scrutiny in the late 1970′s with the discovery of Brother Paul’s Children’s Mission on North Fox Island among other organizations.   It is not known if the charitable practices of Second Mile are under investigation at this time.

Second Mile posted a statement on their site, claiming Sandusky has had no interaction with them since he alerted them to an investigation involving a boy in 2008.  Someone should have them review their annual report and the Sandusky society named after his parents that he and wife Dottie continue to donate to.

Every one of  Sandusky’s alleged victims,  were “Second Mile” children as far back as 1994.   One of the victims, was contacted by phone prior to his appearance before the grand jury by Sandusky, his wife, and a family friend leaving the message they needed to talk to him regarding an “important matter”.

Victim 7 did not return the call, but this editor would seriously like to know the intent of the call from Mrs. Sandusky, who has not been charged with any crime.

In several alleged incidents, and 8 victims named in the indictment against Sandusky, the only person to ever call police to report him was the mother of a victim whose incident was found to be unchargeable under the law, in 1998.

Ray Frank Gricar

A dedicated and successful prosecutor on the cusp of enjoying retirement,  Ray Gricar disappeared from an impromptu trip to “clear his head”  on April 15, 2005.   Gricar called his live-in girlfriend he met as a clerk in his office Patty Fornicola that morning and said he was going to take a drive in his mini Cooper to Lewisburg,  a town he was known to frequent to purchase select antiques.

Although Gricar was scheduled to take a half day’s vacation previously, he called Patty from his cell phone at 11:30 am and told her he would be taking the entire day off.

When Gricar failed to return that evening, Fornicola was concerned and phoned Bellefonte Police.  The next day Gricar’s “mini” was found locked with his cell phone inside in a Lewisburg parking lot.  His keys and wallet have never been recovered.

Two months later, his work laptop was located in the Susquehanna River and without it’s hard drive against a bridge support, and the hard drive a few months after that on the bank by a woman walking her dog.

In 2009, on the 4 year anniversary of his disappearance, Bellefonte detectives releases startling information.

On his home computer, which was reviewed by a forensic analyst,  showed searches including how to delete a hard drive were found in the weeks leading up to Gricar’s disappearance.

A small amount of cigarette ashes found just inside the driver side window of Gricars car leading investigators to believe he met with someone, spoke briefly through the window, and parked his car.

Subsequent possible sightings of Gricar in Michigan have never panned out and his case is still open.

Tom Bradley,  Jerry Sandusky’s successor as defensive coordinator upon his retirement, is acting PSU head coach will lead the team in their last home game against Nebraska this Saturday.

“We’re in a very unprecedented area,” Bradley said Thursday. “We have to find a way to restore the confidence [in the university] and start the healing process.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/11/10/bradley-takes-penn-state-job-with-mixed-emotions/#ixzz1dKl0ccEd

Recommended reading by Rick Reilly.

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330 Comments

  1. erose says:

    Beejay, Found this at your link on Lee. Great source on Gricar. Probably old new to PA locals or people that followed the case.

    Police Seeking Female in Gricar Case
    -0/5-/2006
    Bellefonte Police, the lead investigators in the case of missing former Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar, have announced that they are now looking for a woman who was seen with Gricar the day of his disappearance.

    According to police, a witness reported seeing Gricar with a woman at the Lewisburg Antique Mall on April 15th, 2005, the day he disappeared. The woman was described as being in her mid-30s to early 40s, 5’8″ tall, with dark hair.

    Police say they received the witness’ account early in their investigation, but they did not make it public out of respect for Gricar’s family and friends. Anyone with information about the woman is asked to contact the Bellefonte Police Department.

    http://www.centrecounty.com/topofthecounty/localnews/news.phtml

  2. beejay says:

    @ erose says:
    November 18, 2011 at 2:49 pm
    __________

    If you were suspicious about the “N/A” part, I’m thinking it’s because by that point in time that particular license applies to the program components that did not involve live-in foster homes. Except, to the extent that it provided educational/counseling type “support” to thousands of foster care parents. That’s how i interpreted the fine print. But, IDK for sure.

  3. beejay says:

    Penn State has a very confusing (to me) legal status. Kinda public, kinda private. Looks like a lot of legal battles can/will be fought about anything anyone wants to bring up. For instance, did the issue of Penn State’s new President and his election by the Board of Trustees.

    Snipped:

    “Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association said Penn State appears to fall under the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act. Therefore, if the school in fact named Mr. Erickson permanent president, it raises sunshine act compliance issues, she said.

    “What the law requires is that public agencies take all official actions at a public meeting,” she said. “Now they certainly can discuss personnel in a private session, but the actual vote has to take place at a public meeting.”"

    Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11322/1190878-100-0.stm#ixzz1eAREZEQs

  4. Blink says:

    @beejay- status of anything nefarious or maloderous.
    B

  5. beejay says:

    Why aren’t we all moving to Blink’s newest article? IDK how it works with other cases except Kyron’s. But there, we all moved to post at her latest one, no matter what the topic. It’d sure be easier and we’d be less likely to miss posts. And IDK where to post sometimes, so I just throw darts and post it.

    I know there’s resistance to the new thread because some of us feel going there would mean our heart is somehow with the future of Penn State over concern for the victims. Mine is not, but I’d still like to consolidate to whatever the latest thread is.

    Anyone else? I’m dangling by a thread here (pun intended).

  6. T. Ruth says:

    @beejay

    You’re not the only one who gets confused as to where to post. Where is the latest thread, I never was any good at sewing. :)

  7. erose says:

    That kinda public, kinda private just might back fire on them, lol. And by them I mean the law firm (and their cohorts) that served both the school and the charity, and used the kinda public, kinda private, to circumvent accountability to the victims. Those guys would have to have a dissociative identity disorder coupled with dementia to not know what was going on. JMO.

    beejay says:
    November 19, 2011 at 9:39 am

    Penn State has a very confusing (to me) legal status. Kinda public, kinda private.

  8. Malty says:

    I can’t seem to get both threads in the same phone
    So yes I would like them joined
    So I can do just one thread on one phone
    The switch back and forth is to deep for my mind :)

  9. beejay says:

    OK, then I’m moving to the newest thread, Blink’s Open Letter To Pres [of Penn State}. Here’s the link, if that helps anyone make the move:

    http://blinkoncrime.com/2011/11/12/ending-the-nittany-nightmare-penn-state-pre-game-plea-an-open-letter-to-president-rodney-erickson/

    Or, if you enter blinkoncrime and scroll down the left navigation bar to “Penn State University”, then click on “Rodney Erickson”. My ‘puter brings me right in on whatever is the latest, but might be the magic memory tricks programmed in my my genius IT guy.

    See ya’ll there.

  10. mary says:

    lol, of course.
    B

  11. Sweetie_Pi says:

    The more things change them ore they remain the same.. even in 2011 everything always connects to the very same names, the same rings, and networks… Louis Freeh just named to investigate Penn State pedophile ring scandal.

    –Wonder what John O’Neill would think of this. Known as “The Man Who Knew”, he was Director of Counterterrosim in NY b4 Freeh made him step down a few months b4 9/11. He was on a plane back to NY from Yemen where they were aware of and his team was in the process of stopping the 9/11 attacks. Freeh, on the planeride back showed his true colors, getting into an argument with ONeil which he told ONeil his team was not going back to Yemen. True enuf, the State Dept refused to process ONeil and his team entry to Yemen, and ONeil left the FBI becoming Director of Security for the WTC, because he drn well knew… he died in the attacks. Freeh was succeeded one week b4 9/11, by Meuller, ex USA for Sascramento, where he was know as “Mr Keep A Lid on It” a better “lid” than Freeh. Those who know the inside deals, incl. the financial ones (Wall Street) related to 9/11 have no doubt that Freeh will be the second tier Keep a Lid on It for what is now known as “Pedophile State”.

    –Informed Americans do twitter out loud, “Why Now”, when “This Sickening and Violent Rape Outrage” should have been outed years ago… why does Serial Child rape all of a sudden matter so much…

    – And with the appt. of Freeh, who on this troubled planet thinks that is going to make those who knew about the “Specialty Item Sex Industry” in the US run to his investigation and spill their beans about what all was going on in 2005.

  12. Sweetie_Pi says:

    I wrote:
    –Informed Americans do twitter out loud, “Why Now”, when “This Sickening and Violent Rape Outrage” should have been outed years ago… why does Serial Child rape all of a sudden matter so much…

    I failed to add after the elllipses…
    “why does Serial Child rape all of a sudden matter so much… to the deviant elite”. It matters alwasy to “we the people” but hardly to the Deviant Elite. They can and do order up whoever, whatever they want, whenever, and if anyone thinks this is not so, indeed tht’s living in DreamLand. Again, what was going on in 2005, in PA, will never come to light with Freeh at the helm, as informants and the rings assets were shown a message with Gricar. No one wants to be Gricar’d – his daughter sadly did not even get to have a funeral, to have closure. They need to come clean with Gricar first.

  13. A Texas Grandfather says:

    Sweetie_Pi
    Your posts have raised some valid questions about Mr. Freeh. Who is he really working for or who hired him and his firm? It is thought that the Faculty Senate are responsible for the hire. No real proof of this yet.

    What legal authority will he and his team posess? He is a private citizen acting as an outside investigator. The idea of going back to the beginnings of the Second Mile Foundatin is IMO a good one. However, unless Freeh is given some form of legal authority, I don’t see him getting very far. It is too easy to block the inquiry.

    What we are seeing at this point in time is the very tip of the corruption and criminal activity surrounding PSU and the Second Mile Foundation. There is IMO some very big money involved that could include organized crime.

    You indicate that it may be a case of the “fox guarding the henhouse” with Freeh. I hope this is not true. The public needs to see a real housecleaning of this whole mess including the solution to the Gricar case.

  14. lizzy says:

    No,the Faculty Senate are not responsible for the hire of Freeh. The Faculty Senate has no hiring authority whatsoever. Here’s the resolution passed by the Faculty Senate on Friday:

    http://www.senate.psu.edu/senate-resolution_11-18-11.pdf

    Note what the Faculty Senate recommended for the special committee composition. Also, note the last sentence does not mention Erickson by name, which was a deliberate omission.

  15. Sweetie_Pi says:

    Texas Grandfather,

    “There is IMO some very big money involved that could include organized crime.”

    Beyond a doubt you are correct, as a small example: it has been investigated,in high stakes professional AND collegiate sports, there is almost always to be found the presence of performance enhancing (illegal) drugs the procurement of which is largely controlled by those elements. Another small example, Senate testimony provided that wherever there is gambling (casinos), there is *always* money laundering AND human trafficking; same, whereever there is human trafficking there is always a tightly controlled crew that provides “specialty items” – which includes human “items” for the use of pedophiles.

    Human trafficking is globally organized, and is considered more lucrative to organized crime than the parts of the global drug trade they control. The reason being that human beings, unlike drugs, can be used to create situations, control outcomes when the stakes are high, as in millions of dollars, or political appointments high, name your prices. Therefore it has long been a modality used by “legitimate” organizations via the organized crime outlets. Outsourced, if you will.

    By the time Gricar got to mid 2005, there would have been a phone and email trail since Fall 2004, and I wonder what happened to all that.

    The issue with Freeh IMO is his history which I will not fully characterize here, I try to avoid relaying what I consider criminal depravity however factual on B’s site, but ask that you look into why those controlling FBI high ranks at the time of this sex scandal, one of many of its sick-slick-ilk, the people therein intersecting those in power at the FBI at the time of 9/11, were highly critized as a particular and specific kind of “Mafia”, by their own, which is a key factor here. And to “who” annointed him to the poisition. The appointment comes after the annointment, if you know what I mean.

  16. lizzy says:

    “lizzy says:
    Your comment is awaiting moderation.

    November 21, 2011 at 8:40 pm’

    Correction: the last PHRASE of the last sentence does not mention

  17. beejay says:

    @A Texas Grandfather: I’m posting a msg to you on Blink’s newer thread (open letter to Erickson); I’ve moved there with most other folks

  18. Mary says:

    I just read that Paterno’s wife was refused admittance to the school’s pool where she usually works out.

  19. lizzy says:

    @Mary, it was closed to the public for the long weekend. No classes at Penn State this week.

    However, I’m wondering if she had a key to go in whenever she wanted, kind of like JS had keys to Lasch? Would explain why she was upset, if she was used to being able to go in when it was closed, and now can’t? Just a thought, no evidence of this. But several reporters have pointed out the discrepancy between it just being closed, and her being upset. And it’s the only idea I’ve come up with.

  20. lizzy says:

    Penn State Pool Hours This Week:

    Natatorium:
    http://www.athletics.psu.edu/rec/nat/ne_news_detail.asp?newsid=316

    Thanksgiving Break Schedule
    Due to staff shortages during Thanksgiving Break (11/21/11 through 11/27/11) our open swim times will be reduced.

    Monday: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Dive well closed 10-11, Diving Only from Noon-2:00; Race Pool closed Noon – 2:00 PM)

    Tuesday: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Race Pool Closed; Dive well closed 10:00 – Noon; Diving Only Noon – 2:00 PM)

    Wednesday: Closed
    Thursday: Closed
    Friday: Closed
    Saturday: Closed
    Sunday: Closed

    During the break, if we are able to find staff willing to work we will post a notice online. Unfortunately because most of our lifeguards are not from this area, they are home for the Thanksgiving holiday and are not allowed back into the dorms until the weekend.

    White Building:
    http://www.athletics.psu.edu/rec/whitebldg/documents/THANKSGIVING2011.pdf

    Summary: Building and Fitness Facility open for some hours, but the POOL is CLOSED all week.

    So someone got a news story out of non-news it appears.
    B

  21. susanm says:

    “Sandusky as a surrogate father”,would be interested in the stats as to how many were single mothers.

  22. T. Ruth says:

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45695504#45695504

    Dateline tonight ought to be interesting. Connection between Sandusky & Gricar murdered? (I can’t figure out where to post on this forum, I hope this is okay.)

  23. Al says:

    I’ve now seen the Gricar story twice on TV. I tend to agree with his nephew. This was a suicide unfortunately. He seemed like a good man and actually attempted a sting operation against Sandusky. Sandusky’s level of confession was certainly eye opening but not enough, IMO, for a criminal prosecution. I’m afraid that the criminal justice system can certainly be used by those in position of power and importance. It applies to all areas of criminal abuse, not just sexual perversion.

    I believe we may as well lump pedophiles right in there with sociopaths. A certain percentage of the population will fall into their catagory. Now we need find some way of testing for the inclination much the same as we have with sociopaths. They both fall into the social dilemma of “what do we do now, take them out and shoot them”?

    Al- I respectfully disagree that Ray Gricar committed suicide. There is absolutely no evidence of that, and I would offer evidence to the contrary.

    I do believe that someone very familiar with his familial history wanted everyone to think that, however.
    B

  24. Word Girl says:

    Blink, I jumped here to see your editorial, but am I in the right place? Sorry to bother you when you are so busy. wg.

    Did it not ping here?
    http://blinkoncrime.com/2012/06/12/jerry-sandusky-trial-begins-witness-4-says-dottie-sandusky-walked-in-amendola-commits-jerry-will-testify-in-his-defense-histrionic-disorder-causes-love-letters-to-kids/

    B

  25. [...] Board of Trust the same day as legendary late-Nittany Lions Coach Joe Paterno, is facing serious charges today filed by Sandusky’s [...]

  26. Jennifer says:

    Seems there’s new life in a new tip regarding the murder of DA Gricar as of Sept. 2013

  27. Jennifer says:

    I never believed from day 1 that he committed suicide. I never could understand why his family was so willing to accept it from the start. Nephew seemed to insist on it.

  28. J. J. in Phila (the real one) says:

    Suicide has several problems, but the greatest is, in two words:

    NO BODY!

    There are also problems with witness sighting on 4/16/05 and some of his actions on the day he disappeared.

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