HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Two former Penn State University administrators pleaded guilty Monday to misdemeanor child endangerment for their roles in the Jerry Sandusky child molestation case, more than five years after the scandal engulfed the school and led to coach Joe Paterno’s downfall.
Ex-Athletic Director Tim Curley and former university Vice President Gary Schultz originally were charged with felonies. The reduced charge is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Penn State ex-President Graham Spanier was also charged in the case. He was not in the Harrisburg courtroom Monday morning, though his attorneys were. His prosecution appears to be moving forward, with jury selection scheduled for next week.
The three handled a 2001 complaint by a graduate assistant who said he saw Sandusky, a retired defensive football coach, sexually abusing a boy in a team shower. They did not report the matter to police or child welfare authorities but told Sandusky he was not allowed to bring children to the campus.
Sandusky was not arrested until a decade later. He was convicted in 2012 of 45 counts of sexual abuse of 10 boys, and is serving a 30- to 60-year state prison term.