Sandusky: Paterno Never Questioned Me About Abuse

In this photo provided by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, former Penn State football defensive coordinator Gerald "Jerry" Sandusky, center, is placed in a police car in Bellefonte, Pa. (AP Photo/Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, Commonwealth Media Services)

Legendary Penn State head coach Joe Paterno never talked to Jerry Sandusky about suspected misconduct with minors, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

Sandusky, who is charged with sexually abusing eight boys during a 15-year period, once again denied the allegations of sexual abuse that was detailed in a grand jury report released in November.

Paterno, who was fired amid allegations that his longtime defensive coordinator at State College sexually abused young boys from the Second Mile Foundation, never questioned Sandusky about any of the misconduct that has been alleged by authorities, said Sandusky, who is out on bail.

Three top Penn State officials, athletic director Tim Curley, vice president Gary Schultz, and president of the university, Graham B. Spanier all have stepped down. Curley and Schultz have been charged with failing to notify authorities after they were told of the assault.

According to the grand jury report, in 2002, Mike McQueary, then a graduate assistant at Penn State, told Paterno that he witnessed Sandusky sodomizing a young boy, believed to be 10 or 11 years old, in the shower of the Penn State locker room. Paterno then went to his superiors to report the incident, according to authorities.

“I don’t know that he didn’t know,” Sandusky said. “I know that he never said anything to me. I know that.”

Sandusky sat down with the paper in his second interview since the allegations surfaced in early November. He was first interviewed by Bob Costas on NBC’s news magazine show, “Rock Center,” where he proclaimed his innocence over the phone, and said he’s not sexually attracted to young boys.

“I was sitting there saying, ‘what in the world is this question?’” Sandusky told the Times, in an attempt to clarify his pervious remarks. “If I say no I’m not attracted to boys, that’s not the truth because I’m attracted to young people, boys, girls.”

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno leaves the Louis and Mildred Lasch Football Building on the school campus in State College, Pa., Tuesday Nov. 8, 2011. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

“Yeah, but not sexually,” interrupted Sandusky’s lawyer, who was on hand for this interview, as he was during the NBC telecast. “You’re attracted because you like spending time with them.”

“That’s what I was trying to say,” added Sandusky. “I enjoy spending time with young people, I enjoy spending time with people. I mean my two favorite groups are the elderly and the young.”

During the lengthy interview, Sandusky said he gave money to the disadvantaged boys at his charity, opened bank accounts, and gave them donated gifts from the charity.

“They’ve taken everything that I ever did for any young person and twisted it to say that my motives were sexual or whatever,” Sandusky said. “I had kid after kid after kid who might say I was a father figure. And they just twisted that all.”

When he was asked about the alleged physical contact he had with the young boys, Sandusky said that part of the relationship “just happened that way.”

“I think a lot of the kids really reached out for that,” he said of wrestling and hugging.