Victim 8 Assault Witnessed by Janitor: Court Documents

This is the verbatim account of Victim 8 from the Grand Jury presentment

This is the verbatim account of Victim 8 from the Grand Jury presentment used to bring charges against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.


In the fall of 2000, a janitor named James "Jim" Calhoun observed Sandusky in the showers ofthe Lasch Building with a young boy pinned up against the wall, performing oral sex on the boy. He immediately made known to other janitorial staff what he had just witnessed.

Fellow Office of Physical Plant employee Ronald Petrosky was also working that evening and recalls that it was football season of 2000 and it was a Thursday or Friday evening, because the football team was away for its game. Petrosky, whose job it was to clean the showers, first heard water running in the assistant coaches' shower room. He then saw that two people were in the assistant coaches' shower room. He could only see two pairs of feet; the upper bodies were blocked. Petrosky waited for the two persons to exit the shower so he could clean it.
 
He later saw Jerry Sandusky exit the locker room with a boy, who he described as being between the ages of ll and 13. They were carrying bags and their hair was wet. Petrosky said good evening and was acknowledged by Sandusky and the boy. He noted that the hallway in the Lasch building at that point is long and that Sandusky took the boy's hand and the two of them walked out hand in hand. Petrosky began to clean the shower that Sandusky and the boy had vacated.
 
As he worked, Jim approached him. Petrosky described Jim as being upset and crying. Jim reported that he had seen Sandusky, whose name was not known to him, holding the boy up against the wall and licking on him. Jim said he had "fought in the [Korean] war seen people with their guts blowed out, arms just witnessed something in there I'1l never forget." And he described Sandusky performing oral sex on the boy. Petrosky testified that Jim was shaking and he and his fellow employees feared Jim might have a heart attack.
 
Petrosky testified that all the employees working that night except Witherite were relatively new employees. In discussions held later that shift, the employees expressed concern that if they reported what Jim had seen, they might lose their jobs. Jim's fellow employees had him tell Jay Witherite what he had seen.
 
Jay Witherite was Jim's immediate supervisor. Witherite testified that Jim was "very emotionally upset", "very distraught", to the point that Witherite "was afraid the man was going to have a heart attack or something the way he was acting." Jim reported to Witherite that he had observed Sandusky performing oral sex on the boy in the showers. Witherite tried to calm Jim, who was cursing and remained upset throughout the shift. Witherite told him to whom he should report the incident, if he chose to report it.
 
Witherite testified that later that same evening, Jim found him and told him that the man he had seen in the shower with the young boy was sitting in the Lasch building parking lot, in a car. Witherite confirmed visually that it was Sandusky who was sitting in his car in the parking lot. Witherite says that this was between 10:00 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. Petrosky also saw Sandusky drive very slowly through the parking lot about 2 to 3 hours after the incident was reported to him by Jim, at approximately 11:30 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Petrosky recognized Sandusky in his vehicle. Petrosky testified that Sandusky drove by another time, about two hours later, again driving by very slowly but not stopping. The second drive-by was between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. Petrosky testified that Sandusky did not enter the building either time. The area is well lit and the coaches' cars were known to Petrosky.
 
Jim was a temporary employee at the Lasch Building, working there for approximately 8 months. No report was ever made by Jim Calhoun. Jim presently suffers from dementia, resides in a nursing home and is incompetent to testify.
 
Victim 8's identity is unknown.

Read each Victim's Court Documents:

Victim 1

Victim 2

Victim 3

Victim 4

Victim 5

Victim 6    

Victim 7

Victim 8

Victim 9

Victim 10                                                                

Exit mobile version