Former Penn State University President Graham Spanier is the next person to be charged criminally in the Jerry Sandusky child-sex abuse scandal, according to a published report out today.
Spanier, who was sacked in November along with head football coach Joe Paterno, is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, citing sources close to the investigation, reported on its website.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly is expected to make the announcement today as part of the continuing grand jury investigation into the Sandusky case.
Spanier's attorneys had no comment late Wednesday, the Post-Gazette said. Spanier previously denied any wrongdoing, but former FBI Director Louis Freeh's report on the scandal accused Spanier of covering up a 2001 abuse allegation against Sandusky.
Spanier has told trustees he would never cover up abuse because he himself had been physically abused as a boy by his father, as a form of discipline, The Associated Press reported in July.
"Someday I hope to have my name completely cleared when it becomes evident that this was unfair and untrue," Spanier told The New Yorker during an August interview.
Sandusky was convicted in June on 45 of 48 child-sex abuse counts and is serving a 30- to 60-year sentence at the State Correctional Institution at Greene.
Former Penn State Vice President for Finance Gary Schultz and Athletics Director Tim Curley, who is on leave but won't have his contract renewed when it ends in June, face a trial in Dauphin County Court on perjury and failure to report charges.
Spanier, a tenured professor at Penn State, is on sabbatical from the university until December, and had been performing top-secret national security consulting work for the federal government during the sabbatical.
