PSU Knew in 2011 that Freeh May Have Mishandled Child Abuse Investigations

Rodney Erickson and presumably the entire Board of Trustees knew in 2011 that Louis Freeh may have engaged in or tolerated gross misconduct in investigations of child sex crime cases, and may have tolerated retaliation against an employee who reported the misconduct.


NATIONAL WHISTLEBLOWERS CENTER
3238 P STREET, N.W. WASHINGTON, DC 20007 I 202-342-1902 (tel) 202-342-1904 (fax) I WWW.WHISTLEBLOWERS.ORG

November 22,2011
Rodney Erickson
President
Pennsylvania State University
417 Old Main
University Park, P A 16802

Dear President Erickson:
I am writing on behalf of the National Whistleblowers Center and our client Jane Turner,
a former 25-year veteran of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and a Senior Resident
Agent in the Minot Field Office. The NWC has represented Ms. Turner since 2002 and has been
extensively involved in investigating her allegations that the FBI grossly mishandled
investigations of child sex crimes in Minot, North Dakota. Ms. Turner's whistleblowing
commenced when Louis Freeh was FBI Director and has continued throughout Robert Mueller's
tenure.

We understand that Penn State has retained former FBI Director Freeh, to head the
investigation of child sex crimes at Penn State. Attached, please find a letter we are sending
today to Attorney General Eric Holder calling for a full investigation of the FBI's misconduct in child sex crime cases and its willful failure to properly protect children in the Minot, North Dakota area. It is important to note that some of these instances occurred during Mr. Freeh's tenure as FBI Director.

As set forth in the letter to Attorney General Holder, numerous FBI officials engaged in
misconduct during child sex crime investigations managed by the FBI in the North Dakota.
When Ms. Turner blew the whistle and identified specific instances of gross negligence in the protection of children, she suffered extreme retaliation.

We hereby request that you ensure that no person directly or indirectly involved in the
independent investigation of the Penn State child abuse scandal had any involvement in the
misconduct that occurred in North Dakota and/or in the subsequent retaliation against Ms.
Turner. There are court records and extensive deposition testimony that verify Ms. Turner's
allegations. We would be more than willing to share this information with a responsible college
officiaL. It is essential to ensure that the investigation is truly independent and not tainted by
officials who may be ashamed of their own wrongdoing.

Additionally, there were assistant US Attorneys and a Customs Special Agent who were
willing to stand up against the FBI's pressure and testify on behalf of the children. We request
that you ask former Director Freeh to review the actions taken by these courageous officials and
consider adding them to his team.


Although we are not accusing former Director Freeh of having engaged in this
misconduct, Ms. Turner did report a number of concerns personally to him while he served as Director. Moreover, a number of senior officials who reported to him were directly involved. We request that former Director Freeh be questioned to determine ifhe was aware of Jane Turner's child abuse allegations. Based upon his answers, you can make a determination as to whether he must also be disqualified.

We learned from the Jane Turner case that even a highly-decorated and respected law
enforcement official can have her career destroyed by exposing institutional weaknesses and
misconduct in the protection of young children. We therefore request that you make a public
statement in support of a zero-tolerance policy for retaliation against any employee or student
who steps forward with additional evidence of child sex abuse misconduct will not be tolerated.


Stephen M. Kohn
Executive Director
National Whistleblowers Center
Attorney for Jane Turner
(Retired 25-year FBI veteran and Senior
Resident Agent in the Minot Field Office)
cc. Steve A. Garban, Chairman, Board of Trustees
Daniel R. Hagen, Chair, University Faculty Senate
Larry C. Backer, Chair-Elect, University Faculty Senate

Hey Rodney, how is that PMA insurance working out for you???

http://www.thelegalintelligencer.com/home/id=1202756889767/Judge-Nixes-PSUs-Coverage-for-Many-Sandusky-Abuse-Claims?mcode=1202617075166&curindex=0 "Penn State may not receive insurance coverage for damages stemming from much of the sexual abuse by convicted serial child molester Jerry Sandusky, a Philadelphia judge has ruled. The ruling dashes much of the school's chances for receiving insurance coverage for the abuse that formed the basis of a $60 million settlement the school entered into in 2013."

The No-Paterno Statue

Since Penn State's Trustees (11/9/2011 holdovers and their supporters) do not want a Joe Paterno Statue to symbolize academic and athletic excellence (in that order), here is a No-Paterno Statue for them instead.

Would Keith Masser kindly keep his lies straight? (re: his recent social networking post)

Even though Keith Masser admitted in his deposition in the Corman-NCAA lawsuit, “The decision to remove Coach Paterno had nothing to do with what he had known, what he hadn’t done. It was based upon the distraction of having him on the sidelines would have caused the university and the current football team harm. It had nothing to do with what Coach Paterno had don’t, or hadn’t done,” he nonetheless posted to Facebook a link to an article (http://www.dailylocal.com/sports/20150622/joe-paterno-had-two-legacies-and-his-followers-need-to-accept-it) that suggested that Joe Paterno enabled Jerry Sandusky’s abuse of children.

This link was then circulated by the wife of Emeritus Trustee Carl Shaffer (https://www.facebook.com/linda.shaffer.7773/posts/438124939700836), who apparently has no problem with propagating the following material:

There shouldn’t have been one tear shed or one chant cheered for Paterno that night. His ousting was completely justified. It wasn’t a rash decision. It was the only decision.

I also recall a reporter during the press conference that same night — to announce the coach’s firing — who asked the vice president of the board, John Surma Jr., to explain why the trustees couldn’t allow Paterno to leave with some dignity?

Wow, really?

Where is the “dignity” for those young boys who were raped, molested and sodomized by Paterno’s assistant? Where was the rally for Sandusky’s prey? They were the real victims — not Paterno, not the university and certainly not the protesting students.

Masser subsequently deleted his own Facebook posting of this link, but the fact that he posted it in the first place says plenty.

Mr. Masser and Mr. Shaffer were both parties to the Board’s March 2012 statement, “We determined that his decision to do his minimum legal duty and not to do more to follow up constituted a failure of leadership by Coach Paterno.” Obviously, if Paterno was fired not for anything he had or had not done, he was not fired for failure of leadership. This makes every Trustee who was a party to the latter statement, including Mr. Masser and Mr. Shaffer as well as the likes of Surma, Peetz, Frazier, and Eckel, liars.

The bottom line is, however, as follows. In March 2012, Mr. Masser was a party to the statement, “We determined that his decision to do his minimum legal duty and not to do more to follow up constituted a failure of leadership by Coach Paterno.” In January 2015, he testified in a court proceeding, “The decision to remove Coach Paterno had nothing to do with what he had known, what he hadn’t done. It was based upon the distraction of having him on the sidelines would have caused the university and the current football team harm. It had nothing to do with what Coach Paterno had don’t, or hadn’t done.” After delivering the latter testimony, however, he circulated on a social networking site an article that suggests that Paterno enabled Jerry Sandusky’s abuse of children.

It comes as no surprise that State Senator John Yudichak, and probably most of the Legislature, now regard Penn State’s governance as a sick joke. Would it be too much to ask that the Chairman of Penn State’s Board of Trustees respect the intelligence of Penn State-educated alumni by picking one story and then sticking to it?

In addition, I know how much Mr. Masser would like to put the events of the past four years behind him. (So did Karen Peetz, but Penn State fortunately put her behind it instead.) The fact that he posted and circulated yet another attack on Coach Paterno’s reputation and legacy proves clearly that he wants nothing but an ongoing conflict with the Penn State community, a conflict in which he has already lost about half his colleagues in terms of being voted out in disgrace (Myers, Riley, Suhey), encouraged to self-deport by not running for reappointment (Deviney, Frazier, Alexander, Arnelle, and others), or forced to resign (Peetz).