Frank Parlato
Jerry Sandusky, 79, has been in prison for more than 11 years.
A Pennsylvania jury convicted him of sexually abusing nine boys.
FR is investigating whether he is innocent.
Allegations and Initial Accusations
At the time of his arrest in 2011, after a three-year investigation by the Attorney General’s office, two men, Aaron Fisher and Brett Houtz, alleged sex acts, and four others claimed acts of “grooming.”
Two more victims came forward in time for the trial – alleging sexual assault.
All the men claimed Sandusky abused them when they were boys. None made disclosures of abuse as boys.
PA Acting Attorney General Linda Kelly explained, “It was incredibly difficult for some of them to unearth buried memories of the shocking abuse they suffered.”
All of Sandusky’s victims came from among the thousands of boys who were beneficiaries of his Second Mile charity – which meant they came from financially challenged families.
None of the victims went to the police. The police went to all of them.
Anthony Sassano, from the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, led the Sandusky investigation. He testified investigators interviewed 250 former members of the Second Mile charity, and only one claimed to be a victim of Sandusky abuse.
Legal Strategy and Civil Awards
All the victims had the sense to retain civil lawyers who understood that Penn State, where Sandusky had worked as an assistant coach of the college football team, would pay money if Sandusky was convicted.
After Sandusky’s conviction, the Penn State Board of Trustees paid more than $100 million to victims with a philosophy that forbids vetting, investigating, or requiring corroborating evidence, and without retaining an expert to evaluate the memory recovery therapies that enabled victims to recover repressed memories.
All eight victims who testified (and one whose lawyer arranged for him to temporarily go into hiding so as not to testify) got awards from Penn State:
- Aaron Fisher, $7.5 million
- Allan Myers, (AKA “Shower Boy”) $6.9 million (did not testify)
- Jason Simcisko, $7.25 million
- Brett Swisher-Houtz, $7.25 million
- Michal Kajak, $8.1 million
- Zachary Konstas, $1.5 million
- Dustin Struble, $3.25 million
- Sabastian Paden, $20 million
- Ryan Rittmeyer, $5.5 million
The Role of Repressed Recovered Memories
The Sandusky case relied on “recovered repressed memories” (RMM), which is the theory that buried trauma memories are reliably reported following psychotherapy.
As attorney Howard Janet, who represented Zach Konstas (victim #6), explained, victims would “create a bit of a Chinese wall in their minds. They BURY these events that were so painful to them deep in their subconscious.”
Her client, Konstas, recalled enough at trial to testify that Sandusky groomed him, but never sexually abused him.
Penn State awarded Konstas $1.5 million after Sandusky’s conviction.
Aaron Fisher’s Therapeutic Support
The Sandusky case began with Aaron Fisher (victim #1). He had the benefit of a close relationship with his therapist, Mike Gillum. In fact, they wrote a book together after Sandusky was convicted.
Gillum attended meetings with Fisher and police investigators, which is over and beyond what most therapists will do and what investigators allow.
But Gillum believed the human brain forgets bad, terrifying, horrific, awful, abusive things, that trauma “blocks memories” or “buries memories,” and that “memories come back” in a reliable manner through his therapy.
Fisher needed his guidance and moral support for, as Gillum wrote in his book with Fisher: “Emotional signs of trauma, however, can remain locked within the victim’s psyche as they search for the magic bullet to mask their pain.”
It took Fisher more than two years of therapy with Gillum to remember that Sandusky abused him.
At the trial, Fisher told the jury how Gillum “believed something more did happen, and we talked.”
Penn State awarded Fisher $7.5 million.
The Role of Attorneys in Memory Recovery
Fisher was wise enough to retain attorneys Michael Boni and Slade McLaughlin, who assisted him in recovering millions with his recovered memories. But there is one lawyer who stands above all the rest, the lawyer who represented five of the nine trial victims: Andrew Shubin.
While Fisher relied on therapist Gillum, Shubin’s therapist of choice was Cindy Lee McNab. Her efforts with Shubin’s other clients resulted in many new memories of Sandusky abuse.
Influence of Legal Counsel on Victims
For instance, police interviewed Jason Simcisko (victim #3) on July 19, 2011. Simcisko said “Sandusky never did anything inappropriate” and “I don’t believe any of this stuff is true and hope he is found not guilty.” After six meetings with Shubin and treatment with Macnab, Simcisko reported “memories” of abuse.
Penn State paid Simcisko $7.25 million.
Memory Recall and Legal Representation
During the first two interviews with police, Victim 7, Dustin Struble did not recall Sandusky abusing him. He thought Sandusky was a great guy. He once wrote, “Jerry Sandusky, has helped me to understand so much about myself. He is such a kind and caring gentleman, and I will never forget him.”
Struble also had the financial fortune to retain Shubin, who got him into therapy with MacNab.
Over a few months, Struble’s memory “improved.” He found succor with another victim, his friend Zach Konstas (#6). The two men talked about how therapy was going.
Struble said Konstas “would ask me sort of what happened to me almost—I feel so that he could confide in me. But he had asked me if I remembered anything more, if counseling was helping.”
It helped Struble. But Konstas not so much. Konstas did not recall any new memories between the time he testified at the grand jury and his testimony at trial. Konstas got only $1.5 million.
But Stuble’s memories increased from his grand jury testimony to what he finally testified he remembered at the Sandusky trial.
Struble explained, “That doorway that I had closed has since been reopening more. More things have been coming back and things have changed since that grand jury testimony. Through counseling and different things, I can remember a lot more detail that I had pushed aside than I did at that point.”
He explained how it happened: “Through counseling and through talking about things in my past, different things triggered different memories, and I have had more things come back, and it’s changed a lot about what I can remember today and what I could remember before, because I had everything blocked out.”
When Prosecutor Joseph McGettigan asked Struble why he hadn’t disclosed Sandusky’s abuse to the police during his first or second interrogation, Struble explained: “I had sort of blocked out that part of my life.”
Struble added, “I had sort of pushed into the back of my mind, sort of like closing a door, closing—putting stuff in the attic and closing the door to it. That’s what I feel like I did.”
Penn State awarded Struble $3.25 million, which was more than double what Konstas made.
Sleek Investigative Process
Brett Swisher-Houtz (victim $4) is an example of how attorneys working with police can help a victim recover memories even without the help of therapists – provided they resort to a police technique of deception to encourage memories of abuse.
On April 21, 2011, police first interviewed Houtz. At that time, the case was weak. Other than Aaron Fisher, they had no victim who remembered sexual assault by Sandusky.
Houtz offered hope. He brought his civil attorney Benjamin Andreozzi with him, because his father had advised Houtz that not to do so would be like leaving money at the table.
After interviewing the adult Houtz for some time, he could not recall any instances when Sandusky abused him.
During a break in the interview, State Police Inv. Joseph Leiter forgot he left the recorder running, so we have a rare look at how investigators worked with attorneys in this case.
Outside of Houtz’s presence, Inv. Leiter told Houtz’s attorney Andreozzi that just because Houtz recalled no abuse did not mean he could not be persuaded with proper interviewing methods.
Leiter: “That’s the way it was with the first one (Aaron Fisher). It took months to get this first kid that brought this to our attention. It took months to get him… because it was… well ‘he (Sandusky) would rub my shoulders and then he would do this… it just took repetition and repetition, and then finally he would tell us what happened”…
Attorney Andreozzi: “Can we at some point in time say (lie) to him… ‘listen, we’ve interviewed other kids, other kids have told us that there was intercourse and that they’ve admitted this. Is there anything else that you want to tell us?’”
Inv. Leiter admitted they lie to every witness: “We do that with all the other kids… (we tell them) ‘This is what we’ve found so far, and you do fit the same pattern as all the other ones. That’s the way he (Sandusky) operates, and we know the progression of the way he operates, and the other kids we’ve dealt with have told us that this has happened after this, and did that happen with you?”
Lawyer Andreozzi: “And I need to tell him (that) too. OK.”
By the time Houtz went to trial, he had repressed memory recovery and testified Sandusky abused him in hotel rooms.
He explained how he had failed to tell the police at first. “I have spent, you know, so many years burying this in the back of my head forever.”
Penn State awarded Houtz $5.5 million.
The Role of Defense Attorney Joe Amendola
Without the help of Sandusky’s defense attorney, Joe Amendola, Sandusky might not have been convicted.
Amendola chose to waive Sandusky’s right to a preliminary hearing, where victims could have been questioned about mental health issues, the number and type of interviews, memory-psychotherapy issues, and RRM ideology.
Amendola also chose not to file a motion for a Frye hearing to exclude the “recovered repressed memories” of victims.
It is a good thing for the victims that he did not, since Frye hearings in other cases resulted in the trial judge banning repressed memory testimony because most of the relevant scientific community rejected RMM as junk science and a “pernicious myth” and would have resulted in a competent defense expert explaining that therapist/lawyer interviews can change-morph, distort, and contaminate “memories” as well as the U.S. history of thousands of RRM abuse hysteria-satanic cult hysteria – false memory cases debunked by law enforcement and others.
If Amendola had called for a Frye hearing, which was Sandusky’s right, it is possible there would have been no victims left to testify at trial.
Amendola also chose not to demand and acquire a complete set of all psychotherapy records for the witnesses, with changed memory reports following psychotherapy with Gillum and Macnab.
Amendola’s Curious Trial Strategy
At the trial, Amendola chose not to call an Investigation Methods expert witness to examine the government’s repetitive interviewing process disclosed by Inv. Leiter in his accidentally recorded discussion.
Amendola also chose not to call a Memory-False Memory-RRM expert witness at the trial, who could have testified that “changing,” “morphing,” alleged “memories” which witnesses claim were “buried,” “blocked” or “dissociated” are not normal memories and are unreliable, according to the vast majority of the relevant scientific community, which rejects the RRM ideology, methods and results.
That memory expert could have explained to the jury the history of thousands of examples of therapist-induced false memories from the “Memory Wars” malpractice litigation, as well as the hundreds of therapist-induced false memories of abuse debunked by Special Agent Ken Lanning’s FBI Task Force.
A Memory-False Memory expert witness might have also explained to the jury that leading, suggestive, repetitive interviewing can change “memories” and produce false “memories.”
Legal Decisions and Consequences
It was financially beneficial for the victims that Sandusky’s attorney chose not to do things that other attorneys would do in defense of their clients.
The victims’ “new memories” of abuse were worth millions of dollars, and low-income, troubled young men represented by attorneys Shubin and Andreozzi converted from low-income, troubled young men into millionaires.
Sandusky, who is at Laurel Highlands state prison, will be 80 next month.
Acknowledgments
Several people have been instrumental in uncovering the truth about the Sandusky case, dedicating countless hours to researching, interviewing, and writing about what happened.
- Former chair of English at UC Berkeley and author Dr. Frederick Crews has written numerous articles on the Sandusky case. He is a literary critic and has done extensive research on Freud and recovered memory therapy.
- Filmmaker/podcaster John Ziegler, who created the website framingpaterno.com, has generated scores of podcast interviews and offers in-depth research into the case.
- Investigative reporter Ralph Cipriano has written comprehensive stories for bigtrial.net exposing what mainstream media wouldn’t write about.
- Author Mark Pendergrast wrote the book, The Most Hated Man in America: Jerry Sandusky and the Rush to Judgment, which meticulously documents the case, surrounding media hysteria, political landscape, and repressed memory critique.
- Most of what I reported above was gleaned from their hard work. My special thanks to them. Click on the links to see more of their work.
- John and Patti Galluppi, family friends of the Sandusky’s, created the website Justice for Jerry, which provides much of the documents and breaks down the alleged facts of the case and the stories of the various accusers.
- NCIS, Special Agent John Snedden has investigated and commented on the myriad flaws and anomalies in the case.
- Rev. Joseph Stains, pastor of Mount Hope United Methodist Church, wrote a five-part series in Pennsylvania newspaper the Tribune-Democrat arguing Sandusky’s innocence.
In the story above, I made extensive use of work prepared by nationally recognized expert R. Christopher Barden, a lawyer and psychologist, who has researched repressed memories and their use in the Sandusky trial and has said that he would testify at the licensing revocation and/or malpractice hearings, pro bono, of Gillum and Macknab, if there are any held in the future.
The author acknowledges that without the above researchers and writers, who all preceded him in this investigation, he would not have been able to conceivably attempt to investigate the conviction of Jerry Sandusky.
Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist, media strategist, publisher, and legal consultant.
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This is bigger than Jerry.
Jerry Sandusky was framed I believe in order to push through SafeSport just as Father Gordon MacRae was framed in 1994 in order to get inside the Diocese of Manchester & push Virtus LLC “Protecting God’s Children” sham started by Monsignor Edward Arsenault who later pled guilty to defrauding the Diocese of Manchester. The Sandusky case has all the same hallmarks as this and the same hallmarks as NH v Owen Labrie in 2015 which was used to push “compliance” officers and Title IX shams. The victims advocate in NH v Owen Labrie is tied to the victims advocate in the Sandusky case and the two of them are tied to the National Crime Victims Law Institute and Henry T Nicholas III who kept an underground lair where he indulged in drugs and sex with prostitutes. Meg Garvin of the NCVLI is in the latest batch of Epstein documents. When people wake up to see what’s actually going on and how there is a pattern of recruiting “victims” for cash rewards while hiding actual perpertrators and ignoring real victims, will be the day we actually make progress towards real justice in this country. Young journalists are hired and used by so-called “victims advocates” to promulgate dishonest renditions pretrial in order to steer justice and get federal grants. The NCVLI publishes the guide to PreTrial Publicity Friend – and explains exactly how it works. There are too many federal grants available in the victimhood industry and these are useful for States who want them for their police departments, prosecutors, corrections etc. Start looking at the IRS Form 990s of the Victims Advocacy Groups training the police in “best practices”, getting kick backs from the civil attorneys hired for the “victims” who have been recruited and you start to see what’s going on.
[…] Changing Memories: The Impact of Repressed Recovered Memories in the Sandusky Case […]
This man definitely did not get a fair trial and is innocent from all charges too bad there is so many corrupt officials in the state of Pennsylvania
The picture you used for Zach Konstas is actually Dustin Struble (ironically posing with Konstas who is the taller one on the right)
Oh wow, thanks so much. Do you have a copy without the circle? We will update right away.
Thank you Santa Sandusky for all of our gifts.
My daddy’s rich for lying about coach Sandusky. Santa Sandusky bought me all my Christmas gifts. He also bought me these pretty dresses. Santa Sandusky is the best. I live in a mansion that Penn State paid for. I think daddy bought mommy too with Santa’s sinful 💸 cash. Thank you Frank Report for holding my daddy accountable.
Low life white trash will continue to be low life white trash. They destroy a man who helped them the most. Who gave from the heart and welcomed them into his family.
It’s a familial pattern that’s difficult to break. The betrayal and lack of remorse is staggering. The attorneys and therapists are pure evil/ exploiting and targeting people- bribing with potential winnings most don’t see in a lifetime.
You’ve already made an excellent case for a new trial. There are Paterno and Sandusky fans who will be livid when they learn the truth.
Public outrage will come – You’ve presented enough as it is for ineffective counsel:
“Under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, a criminal defendant is guaranteed the right to effective assistance of counsel.” State v. Balliette, 2011 WI 79, ¶21, 336 Wis. 2d 358, 805 N.W.2d 334. A defendant must show two elements to establish that his or her counsel’s assistance was constitutionally ineffective: (1) counsel’s performance was deficient; and (2) the deficient performance resulted in prejudice to the defense. Id.
¶10 “To demonstrate deficient performance, the defendant must show that his counsel’s representation ‘fell below an objective standard of reasonableness’ considering all the circumstances.” State v. Carter, 2010 WI 40, ¶22, 324 Wis. 2d 640, 782 N.W.2d 695 (citation omitted). Prejudice occurs when counsel’s error is of such magnitude that there is a “reasonable probability” that but for the error the outcome would have been different. State v. Erickson, 227 Wis. 2d 758, 769, 596 N.W.2d 749 (1999). “ ‘A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.’ That requires a ‘substantial,’ not just ‘conceivable,’ likelihood of a different result.” Cullen v. Pinholster, 563 U.S. 170, 189 (2011) (citations omitted).
I pray a new trial will be demanded, but with the corrupt PA judicial system and the corrupt attorney general’s office and past officers ……. ?? I pray every day this case will be revisited and that someone has the courage and fortitude to do just that. His attorneys have been fighting for YEARS! If you (above) would like to help, please contact Atty Al Lindsay (Pittsburgh area.)
One of the facts people do not realize is that at the time of Jerry Sandusky’s trial these “victims” were 20-somethin-year-old ADULTS with no male guidance in their formative years and no monetary future with an education. At the time of the trial they were NOT KIDS like a lot of people believe. They saw dollar signs with the help of their attorney who “guided” them to a “therapist,” and the eventual millions they would receive without VETTING of any kind. This case is a disaster in all aspects. Jerry Sandusky IS an INNOCENT man who was railroaded by everyone and especially, sadly, by Penn State!
Has Sandusky been prison-raped?
This needs to be presented to the MAIN media channels and to the public.Get the truth out there. Maybe Jerry would have a chance to get a new trial and prove his innocence.
The main media and newspapers will NOT touch this case….too cowardice to right a wrong. All this information is/was readily available to ALL media. Too afraid of public ridicule.
Mainstream media is complicit in covering the fraud. The only true investigative journalists like FR are independent – and it takes enormous time and energy- often without pay- to get the truth out to the public with the goal of putting enough public pressure that actions to right wrongs will be taken.
This is what we do to devoted people who do everything they can to protect and support our children in need.
They railroaded Sandusky and put Paterno in the light of a criminal. The truth will prevail.
It’s becoming clear that (Oh my God) Jerry Sandusky is innocent. Lord save us. What kind of judicial system to we have. I am dying to hear more. Please continue this series.
Listen to John Ziegler’s podcast “With the Benefit of Hindsight,” google it.
This article states all the perpetrators in order. Some will call them “victims”. Clearly they are scammers. I see pictures of the men with their daughters. About the same age I experienced their crimes that paid them millions. The word scum comes to mind. My question isvwhy the men like Pigeon, Raniere and Sandusky never stood up and fought for themselves? Why did they become cowards if they never raped or molested young people? Are men actually scared to fight?
Jerry has been fighting EVERY day for 12 years. PA and judicial system is VERY corrupt. They have too much to hide in their inadequacies involving this case. They are unethical and will do everything to not have this become public. Shameful!
I know in pigeons case the risk was too great – and even a count on a far lesser charge would have exceeded the misdemeanor sentence of 8 months offered to him.
The system is rigged. Pigeon is an innocent man railroaded by John Flynn. The violations of ethics and protocol by the government have been blatant in the Pigeon case and nothing was done to hold people in public office accountable. With this history one can reasonably assume it would continue- further violating Pigeons rights and making him more vulnerable to a corrupt process.
The plea offer of 8 months with little or no probation is the evidence that he is not a child rapist. Otherwise why would Flynn have made such an offer? A felony results in at least a year in prison. Pigeon didn’t get that. Coercive pleas are the new justice.
Another brilliant report because it’s all based on the facts. To the individual who asked about Matt Sandusky, please know your facts. He turned on the family for money but all the other Sandusky relatives are steadfast in their commitment to help free their dad or husband. The Frank Report deals strictly with the facts which is so refreshing to read. The media hoodwinked the public and this case needs to be revisited for the truth.
So was Jerry literally steam rolled by everyone around him? Was there anyone fighting for him at the time? How can such a magnanimous miscarriage of justice happen?
The photo with Amendola says it all. What a travesty of justice. This case will shed light on the vast corruption in our courts throughout the US. They are not fit or by the people.
wham such blatant incompetence – or decisions made which clearly bring harm to a client- the judge has to know this is happening and intercede to halt the injustice.
There is no due process when a clients rights are sacrificed by incompetent counsel or counsel who is paid to play a role. Counsel who allows evidence to be buried and permits false evidence to remain unchallenged should lose their license. So many clients get sold down the river and Frank has made clear this is what happened.
Amendola won’t sleep well tonight. Or ever again. Sandusky is getting out.
Amendola was over his head so to speak. He asked Judge Cleland (another unethical player in this travesty) for continuances for time to go over the myriad of material he had….not granted-ever. He never presented Mr. Sandusky’s medical information because, l believe, he did not know they existed in his files. Amendola definitely made mistakes in representing Jerry but Cleland did NOT help matters. Amendola also asked Cleland to be recused….DENIED. Yes, this is only some of what transpired in this farce of a trial. It is truly shameful!