Settlement Scam? Sandusky Accuser Ryan Rittmeyer’s Multi-Million Story Swap

Ryan Louis Rittmeyer, 37, was “victim 10” in the Jerry Sandusky case. He was 25 years old when he testified against Sandusky.

How He Knew Sandusky

When he was 10, Ryan Rittmeyer lived in rural Moshannon, Pennsylvania, with his mother, stepfather, and stepbrother.

According to Rittmeyer’s “Confidential Intake Questionnaire,” his attorneys filed with Penn State in negotiations for a financial settlement for his alleged abuse:

“Mr. Rittmeyer had been referred to The Second Mile in or about the summer of 1997 because he had low self-esteem. Referral was made to help him ‘to feel better about himself.’

“His records note that ‘this is a kid who has faced many setbacks (some quite severe) since he moved to the area in October. He’s a good student who really just needs a break!!!’…

“Mr. Rittmeyer did not have a relationship with his father and was not welcome in his mother’s home by his mother’s boyfriend.”

In 1998, Rittmeyer was placed in a foster home in Milesburg, PA. That summer, he attended Second Mile camp at Penn State. His roommate was Jason Simcisko, another future accuser of Sandusky, known as “victim 3.”

After this summer camp and before he left foster care to live with his grandparents in Maryland, Rittmeyer claimed Sandusky abused him.

He never told anyone at the time. Neither did Simcisko or, for that matter, any of the other accusers.

Rittmeyer Comes Back to PA

Rittmeyer eventually returned to PA, and at 17, he was arrested for burglary. He spent six months in jail.

At 18, he was arrested for dealing drugs and got probation.

When he was 19, he was arrested for theft by deception—false impression and for writing bad checks. On March 7, at age 20, he was arrested for establishing a gambling place. Then police arrested him for robbery.

According to reports, Rittmeyer had noticed an older man who took the same path home daily with a backpack. Rittmeyer conspired with a 17-year-old to steal his backpack, thinking it had cash in it. They hid behind a bush. Rittmeyer jumped out and punched the man in the face, while the juvenile punched him in the stomach. Rittmeyer and his protégé ran off, leaving the man with permanent injuries.

Rittmeyer was disappointed to find only three books and a digital camera in the backpack.

Police charged him with robbery, assault, and criminal solicitation. He spent 23 months in prison, followed by two years of probation.

Sandusky Reappears

The investigation into Sandusky was weak. For two years, police had only one accuser, Aaron Fisher, who, with repressed memory therapy, went back and forth on whether Sandusky forced him to engage in oral sex or not. His mother encouraged Fisher to endure, for she knew the reward was coming. (Fisher ultimately collected $7.5 million from Penn State.)

In their desperate search for victims, state police interviewed hundreds of Second Milers, who all said Sandusky never molested them.

With Fisher’s mother’s help, police found five men who also said Sandusky did not molest them. However, with a little friendly persuasion and some unusual police tactics, they became willing to testify that Sandusky had abused them when they were boys.

One of these men was Jason Simcisko, Rittmeyer’s old friend, who, along with his friend Dustin Struble, had retained civil attorney Andrew Shubin, who had been advertising for Sandusky victims.

For the record, each of these men collected the following:

None of these men had ever told anyone that Sandusky had abused them when they were boys.

When questioned separately as adults, they first told police Sandusky did not abuse them. After they connected with civil lawyers, who in turn provided them with memory therapists Dr. Cindy MacNab and Mike Gillum to help them “remember” that Sandusky had abused them, they changed their stories.

Police arrested Sandusky on November 5, 2011. It became national news. The PA Attorney General announced a hotline for Sandusky victims, Penn State fired Joe Paterno, and news reports suggested Penn State would pay $100 million to victims.

Within a few days of Sandusky’s arrest, Rittmeyer made two momentous decisions: He married his girlfriend, Jasmine Acevedo, and decided to go for the cash Penn State was going to hand out.

Enter Rittmeyer

Like his boyhood friend Jason Simcisko, Rittmeyer retained attorney Shubin.

But Rittmeyer did not need a memory therapist. Since he had never been known to be alone with Sandusky, he told agent Michael Cranga of the PA Attorney General’s office that Sandusky had groped him in the big outdoor swimming pool at Penn State during the Second Mile camp.

With Rittmeyer’s criminal record and with the minimal abuse which could have been arguably horse play, Cranga sent Rittmeyer away – along with at least seven others who told various stories of dubious abuse.

With the help of Shubin and Simcisko, Rittmeyer modified his story. At his second interview he told Cranga he was forced to give Sandusky oral sex. Cranga was impressed. He wrote in a report that Rittmeyer’s “life went downhill” after Sandusky’s abuse.

Grand Jury

On December 5, Rittmeyer, 24, identified as “victim 10,” testified before the grand jury in Harrisburg, PA. He testified the oral sex abuse took place in Sandusky’s basement.

The presentment reads:

“Sandusky would wrestle with him and eventually, during one of those wrestling sessions, Sandusky pulled the boy’s gym shorts down and performed oral sex on him. The boy was startled by the act. He testified that Sandusky repeated on several subsequent occasions, wrestling with him in the basement and then performing oral sex on him.… Sandusky asked the boy to perform oral sex on him and Victim 10 did so.…

“Victim 10 says that the relationship ended after …. Sandusky was driving his car and Victim 10 was his front seat passenger. Sandusky opened his pants, exposing his penis and indicated that he wanted Victim 10 to perform oral sex on him. Victim 10 refused and Sandusky was displeased with his refusal. Victim 10 testified that after that, he told his foster mother he did not wish to spend any more time with Sandusky.”

Rittmeyer did not tell his foster mother or anyone else that Sandusky abused him.

Rittmeyer, who has a deep fascination with sports cars, identified Sandusky’s car as a silver convertible sports car, which was confusing, as Penn State coaches drove vehicles provided through local Ford and Chevy dealerships, which did not provide coaches with convertibles.

Headed to Trial

At the June 2012 trial, Rittmeyer, 25, testified he went to Sandusky’s house in 1998-99 about five times, which limited his total alleged abuse to about five episodes of fellatio in the basement when he was 13 years old, plus the groping in the outdoor pool at Penn State when he was 12.

He said the last time he saw Sandusky was in 1999.

Under cross examination, Sandusky’s attorney Joe Amendola asked Rittmeyer about the convertible.

Amendola: When Mr. Sandusky in this silver-colored convertible asked you to perform… oral sex on him, what was his reaction when you said you wouldn’t do it?

Rittmeyer: He got angry.

Amendola: He got angry?

Rittmeyer: He made a threat to me, and then he apologized shortly after and told me that he loved me.

***

Amendola: Did you tell the grand jury that when the situation occurred that Mr. Sandusky did not get angry, he got quiet?

Rittmeyer: Yeah, I told them that he got quiet but he had a look on his face that was displeasing

Rittmeyer added another detail:  After Sandusky picked him up in the convertible, he put his hand on his thigh when they were driving.

Amendola: He just put his hand on your thigh?

Rittmeyer: Yeah.

Amendola: Anything else he did?

Rittmeyer: No.

During the cross examination, Rittmeyer also admitted it might not have been a convertible, but a car with a moon roof.

At the end of the trial, the jury found Sandusky guilty of 45 counts of abusing ten men, including Rittmeyer, when they were boys. The charges included involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, unlawful contact with minors, corruption of minors, and endangering a child’s welfare.

Judge John Cleland sentenced Sandusky to 30-60 years.

Time to Collect

Ira Lubert, the wealthy real estate investor, was the Penn State trustee in charge of settlements with alleged Sandusky victims.

As widely rumored in the legal community, Lubert had made it clear that if the accuser had the right attorney, either a friend of his or someone who could do him a good turn in the future, then he would recommend a generous settlement with Penn State’s money.

Shubin, known largely as “bottom feeder,” and “ambulance chaser,” understood Lubert’s message. Rather than take the claims in himself, he partnered with Philadelphia lawyers Joel Feller and Matthew Casey to represent Rittmeyer and six other Sandusky accusers.

There was no law firm that could do more for Lubert and his future business plans, including Lubert’s plan to bring gambling to Penn State college students than Casey and Feller.  Casey’s brother Bob Casey Jr. was (and still is) a U.S. Senator (Democrat).

Penn State did not need to vet Rittmeyer’s claims. No lawyers were called on to depose Rittmeyer. Nor was he examined by a forensic psychiatrist.

Amplification

In the confidential documents filed with Penn State for purposes of settling without a lawsuit, Rittmeyer’s lawyers added another year of abuse, ending the Sandusky relationship in 2000, instead of 1999 – so he could have three years of abuse.

Rittmeyer (and his attorneys) kept the location of the abuse the same as he testified: in Sandusky’s basement, where he “forced Mr. Rittmeyer to perform oral sex on him,” and “Sandusky also performed oral sex on Mr. Rittmeyer.”

But instead of possibly five times in the basement, as Rittmeyer had testified, he now endured “three years” of “repeated and persistent sexual abuse.”

The lawyers added a brand new form of abuse not mentioned before: “Sandusky stimulated Mr. Rittmeyer’s anus and masturbated with Mr. Rittmeyer.”

They also added new events in the convertible. Rittmeyer had testified Sandusky had put his hand on his thigh and “nothing more.” But in the confidential filings with Penn State, Rittmeyer’s attorneys wrote Sandusky “repeatedly” and “routinely fondled Mr. Rittmeyer’s genitals” in the car.

During the prosecution of Sandusky, Rittmeyer had told two versions of the silver convertible story, one with an angry threat and apology, and one with Sandusky being silent but looking displeased.

The lawyers decided to go with the “threat version,” giving added details:

“Sandusky attempted to force Mr. Rittmeyer to perform oral sex on him. When Mr. Rittmeyer refused, Sandusky became angry and threatened Mr. Rittmeyer, who was in foster care, that he would never see his family again. Sandusky then apologized and told Mr. Rittmeyer that he loved him.”

This contradicted their claim that the abuse continued until 2000, since the convertible episode ended the relationship, and evidently Rittmeyer was still in foster care based on the threat. But Rittmeyer left foster care in 1999.

The Harm He Endured

Feller and Casey wrote:

“Mr. Rittmeyer has tried to lead a normal life but is tormented by the years of abuse he suffered.

As a result of the repeated and persistent sexual abuse he endured, Mr. Rittmeyer suffered and continues to suffer from physical, psychological, and emotional issues including but not limited to pain, suffering, loss of childhood, loss of innocence, loss of privacy, mental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, shame, confusion, loss of life’s pleasures, loss of ability to trust people, loss of ability to form and maintain intimate relationships, loss of ability to form and maintain relationships with family members, loss of ability to form and maintain friendships, loss of self-esteem and self-worth, loss of confidence, loss of motivation, loss of will to live, nightmares, flashbacks, sleep disturbances, fear, anxiety, sadness, guilt, and depression.

“Additionally, Mr. Rittmeyer has suffered a diminution in earning capacity as a result of being sexually abused, including the loss of opportunity to attend college.”

The lawyers did not mention that Rittmeyer may have lost the opportunity to go to college because he was in prison for beating up an elderly man.

The attorneys continued:

“[A]s a result of the sexual abuse he endured, Mr. Rittmeyer has suffered from problems relating to drug and alcohol abuse, which have led to criminal activity and have adversely affected his employability.”

The lawyers did add Rittmeyer had a job as a service technician for a trucking company, which for a convicted, violent felon might be considered decent employment.

With Ira Lubert’s blessings, Penn State paid Ryan Louis Rittmeyer $5.5 million.

An Interview

After he settled with Penn State, Rittmeyer, identified only as “victim 10,” and portrayed in silhouette, interviewed with ABC Philadelphia. He added new stories in his first media interview.

Rittmeyer had previously testified that sex had only happened in Sandusky’s basement. Now he told ABC reporter Wendy Saltzman that it occurred “on the Penn State campus,” “in the car” and “in public.”

He stuck with his angry-Sandusky-in-the convertible story:

“He wanted me to perform sexual acts on him, and I refused to do it,”. “And he turned into a totally different person. He got very angry. That’s when he threatened me. And then he turned around like nothing ever happened and said, ‘I’m sorry I said that. I love you.'”

His attorney, Joel Feller, added: “Jerry took advantage of [Rittmeyer] and manipulated him into doing unspeakable acts. In three years, this man suffered horrific abuse.”

He added Rittmeyer was “abused horrifically over a significant period of time by a monster.”

Sandusky shown in a gritty filter by ABC News.

Without mentioning the millions he was to get from Penn State, Rittmeyer said, “His sentence, to me, is part of the closure. I can sit back and know that he will never be able to do this to another person.”

The reporter asked, “Are there things you would say to him now?”

“No,” Rittmeyer replied. “I would have nothing to say to his face. He knew what he did. He knows what he did was wrong. So why did I have to sit there and tell him that when he knows it was wrong?”

Money

Joel Feller, whose law firm took in millions from the Sandusky case, had told the media, “No amount of money is going to take away what these young men are going to have to endure for the rest of their lives.”

Within months of getting his cash, Rittmeyer used some of his amount of money to buy a country home in Philipsburg, PA for $178,000 in cash.

The most important room in the house: The garage at Rittmeyer’s home where he stores his fine automobiles. Rittmeyer also used some of the amount of money he made from his expanding claims of abuse to buy himself a Nissan GTR for $100,000 and a vintage Chevrolet SS “muscle car.”

He also used some of the amount of money to go with Simcisko, who himself collected $7.25 million from Penn State, to Nevada to parlay their millions into vastly greater sums. ·

“Time to make that money baby!!!” Rittmeyer wrote under a photo of himself on Facebook in 2015.

That was the same year Rittmeyer was arrested for possession of a firearm which, as a felon, he was prohibited from carrying.  Though he retained Shubin to defend him, Rittmeyer wound up with a sentence of six months in jail.

Since then, Rittmeyer has had a few more arrests, a number of speeding tickets and traffic infractions, including misdemeanor charges for driving with a suspended license, and a misdemeanor drug charge, but, according to state records, he avoided prison.

Business and Pleasure

In 2020, Rittmeyer started Jasmine’s Window Cleaning (named after his wife) and used the slogan, “We love keeping your windows sparkly!”

While some locals say he started the company to illegally collect COVID relief money, the company appears to have clients in Tyrone, Renovo, Lock Haven, Jersey Shore, Williamsport, and Watsontown.

Clients include:

1. The Brew Coffee and Tap,
2. ChellzDreamz,
3. Brooks and Family Timbernation,
4. Billie J. Friday Agency,
5. Edward Newlin,
6. Tam’s Treasures,
7. Save-A-Lot ,
8. The Painting Broad
9. Joseph Andres Allstate,
10. Sheila’s Clipper Cuts,
11. Save-A-Lots
12. Lingle’s Neighborhood Markets,
13. Thieves Market,
14. Brother’s Pizza,
15. Salon Menagerie,
16. Average Jack Archery,
17. Philipsburg Dental Partners,
18. The Barber Shop!
19. And Jim and Cheryl Isola’s house.

Rittmeyer also took up a hobby: He became a “professional disc golfer” (golf played with a frisbee) and competed last summer at Harvest Fields, where he finished from 8^th to 12th place.

He performed less competitively this week at Penn State University Open where he placed 17^th.

The Future

Jerry Sandusky, 80, remains incarcerated in the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institute in Laurel Highlands. He was sent there by accusers who all changed their stories, who all had lawyers, and who each collected from $1.5 million to $20 million.

I do not believe Sandusky ever abused any of them.

There is no doubt in my mind that Sandusky never abused Ryan Rittmeyer.

Yes, Rittmeyer can throw a mean frisbee, but I wonder how he will fare with the boomerang. Stay tuned. Much more to follow.

Frank Parlato

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist, media strategist, publisher, and legal consultant.

Frank Parlato

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist, media strategist, publisher, and legal consultant.

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