Frank Parlato
A Pattern of Perjury
Pull back the curtain, if you dare, on the eight accusers who testified at the trial of Jerry Sandusky. I believe you will see a pattern: Perjury.
I submit to you the story of Dustin Roland Struble, 39, aka “Victim 7” as an example.
The Influence of Sandusky’s Worldview
Struble grew up in Milesburg, a borough in Centre County, Pennsylvania — part of the State College, Pennsylvania metropolitan area. He lived as a child with his parents and sisters.
A troubled youth, his guidance counselor recommended him for Second Mile camp when he was ten. He attended from 1995-98.
Sandusky, the defensive coordinator for Penn State’s football team and founder of the Second Mile charity, befriended many lads. When he saw the troubled boy, a scrawny kid with a tendency to lie and sneak, he tried to train him as an athlete and help him become a man.
Sandusky invited Struble to join the group of men and boys he mentored.
Struble came to Penn State games, and met players and others involved in Sandusky’s life. Struble sometimes stayed overnight, and Sandusky tried to train this weakling in mind, heart, and body.
Through the ensuing years, Struble seemed to admire Sandusky and sought to be with him at every chance. He expressed distress to his mother when Sandusky was too busy with other engagements to pick him up from his home.
Sandusky introduced Struble to a world of the disciplined athlete, and of churchgoing people who neither swore, drank alcohol nor used drugs; where people worked for a living and achieved things through effort and merit and believed in God; a world where all men were not snivelers who grasped at everything, whether they cheated or lied to clutch it; where the hand was not always turned palms down to grab but palms upwards to give: The world of Jerry Sandusky, where truth in word and deed was paramount; a world the lad might never had viewed but for the time he spent with Sandusky, even if he never learned to live up to it himself.
When he was 19, Struble wrote Sandusky “has changed my perceptions on life.”
A Change in Career
Dustin Struble had ambitions. He worked at a restaurant and hoped to own his own one day. In 2004, he sought Sandusky’s help from Second Mile to go to business school to learn how to run a restaurant.
On the grant application, he wrote, “Jerry Sandusky, he has helped me understand so much about myself. He is such a kind and caring gentleman, and I will never forget him.”
Second Mile approved the grant, and Struble began studying business administrative marketing management at South Hills School of Business and Technology.
But Struble dropped out and entered the illegal world of buying and selling drugs, coaxing his younger friends to sell drugs for him.
In 2006, Struble was arrested for solicitation of minors to traffic drugs.
Facing prison, Struble, 21, offered himself to police as an informant and worked to set up a sting operation to get his young friends and others arrested.
Struble was spared prison time. His friends, even those he did not set up, abandoned him as word spread of how he had betrayed others to save himself.
Sandusky, however, remained his friend. And for several years Struble continued to join Sandusky at football games.
Then Struble saw a better opportunity.
State Police Do Their Part
It was 2011. Struble was 26. The PA State Police, working with investigators from the PA Attorney General’s Office, had interviewed hundreds of Second Mile men in their two year old investigation into Sandusky.
The police routinely used leading questions and surprise early morning visits, like they were there to make an arrest. They also did not tape-record interviews.
Still, none of the hundreds said Sandusky had abused them.
They only had Aaron Fisher, whose testimony was shaky, but whose mother was pushing him hard to say he was abused to cash in on a lawsuit she was planning.
Finally, the police found a group of men that were at most two degrees of separation from each other: Zach Konstas, Michal Kajak, Jason Simcisko, Brett Swisher-Houtz, and Struble.
On February 3, 2011, State Trooper Joseph Leiter interviewed Struble.
According to Leiter’s notes, Struble said the Second Mile was “a great program and helped him tremendously.”
Touched His Knee
Leiter got Struble to admit Sandusky put his hand on his knee when Struble was about 11.
Asked if he remembered Sandusky moving his hand towards his genitals, Struble said he never touched his genitals.
Asked if he remembered Sandusky getting in bed with him when he stayed overnight, Struble said Sandusky would “cuddle” him briefly. They were fully clothed, Struble said.
Struble said he remembered that he and Sandusky had taken showers in the Penn State locker room maybe two or three times – after workouts – but nothing improper had occurred.
Yes, Struble answered, Sandusky had given him bear hugs, but not in the shower. They had wrestled, but Sandusky had never touched him inappropriately.
Therapist Advised
Leiter, whose interviewing technique (which was caught on tape during an interview with another accuser) was to lie about the number of Second Mile “boys” who said Sandusky abused them. He told Struble that they did not remember being abused until they had seen a therapist.
Struble knew his friend, Zach Konstas, had a civil attorney and therapist. Konstas also did not recall being abused, but his mother insisted he must have forgotten and they could use the money that would come once he remembered.
As for Struble, Leiter’s notes read that he: “advised Struble that as he recalls events to please contact me and we can set up another interview. Also, if he begins having difficulties with his memories to contact me so that assistance can be found.”
During a second police interview, Leiter pressed harder. Struble still did not remember Sandusky abusing him, but he told Leiter he would take his advice.
Struble began psychotherapy on February 22, 2011.
Struble saw more than one therapist, but one of them was Cynthia MacNab, a local therapist specializing in leading young men into the memories she knew they forgot. She was assisting potential Sandusky accusers, working closely with attorney Andrew Shubin, who was advertising for Sandusky victims, offering to represent them for free unless they made money from the lawsuit.
MacNab and Shubin worked so well together that at one point MacNab conducted group therapy with Sandusky accusers, including Struble, where they helped each other “remember.” Shubin made sure none of his clients had to pay one dime for the therapy.
MacNab helped Struble realize he had a blurry memory and that he had buried memories behind the locked door in the attic of his mind. She had the key to help him unlock it.
Grand Jury Testimony
After a month and half of memory therapy, Struble testified at the grand jury on April 11, 2011. He now “remembered” that Sandusky, who he had told police had only touched his knee, also touched his thigh.
Deputy Attorney General Jonelle Eshbach asked Struble, now 26, “Did he ever touch any other part of you and any other part of him?”
Struble: There was a few times I could remember that he stuck his hand inside my pants right inside my waist, like right inside the zipper in my button. I can say he never went the whole way down and grabbed anything.
Eshbach: You’re saying he never touched your private skin over his skin?
Struble: No, he did not. He didn’t
Eshbach: Did he ever fondle you at all over your clothes?
Struble: No, he did not
Eshbach: Dustin how many times do you think you were alone in the shower with Jerry?
Struble: Probably three or four times
Eshbach: Did you ever have any physical contact with you at all, any kind of contact while you’re in the shower with him?
Struble: While we were in the shower? I don’t think so.
Eshbach: Are you sure?
Struble: I’m not sure. That’s because I guess I have a blurry memory. I don’t think so.
Overall, Struble’s new “memories” were not overly helpful. The grand jury presentment reads, “Sandusky never touched any private parts of Victim 7.”
After the grand jury, Struble retained civil attorney Andrew Shubin, who represented his friend, Jason Simcisko, who also testified at the Sandusky trial as “Victim” 3. (See FR story.)
The Trial
With a year of memory therapy behind him, Struble, 27, “remembered” more.
At the criminal trial of Jerry Sandusky in June 2012, Struble testified that Sandusky, whose hand originally stopped at the knee, then went to the thigh, then the waistband, now went below and touched his penis.
In the Penn State showers, Struble also remembered that Sandusky grabbed him from behind and put his naked body up against the back of his naked body.
He did not claim Sandusky had an erection. When asked at the trial, he said he did not know what an erection was then. He said he focused on Sandusky’s gray chest hair.
How His Memory Worked
During the examination, Deputy Attorney General Joseph McGettigan decided he better clear the air about something the defense was sure to raise. He asked Struble why he said in police interviews and in the grand jury that Sandusky did not abuse him.
Struble said: “I had sort of blocked out that part of my life… 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.”
Cross Examination
Defense attorney Joe Amendola pressed Struble on his change of stories, reminding Struble that during police interviews and under oath in the grand jury, he said Sandusky never touched him inappropriately.
Amendola: But today now you recall that he put his hand down pants, Mr. Sandusky, and grabbed your penis?
Struble: 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.
***
Amendola: Today you’re telling us no blurry memory anymore, correct?
Struble: Through counseling and through talking about different events, through talking about things in my past, different things triggered different memories and have had more things come back, and it’s changed a lot about what I can remember today…
Amendola: That was after you retained private counsel is that correct?
Struble: Around that time, yeah.
Struble Knew Nothing About Attorney
Amendola: Are you aware that (attorney Shubin) advertises representing alleged victims of Penn State sexual abuse?
Struble: No, I’m not aware, no.
Amendola: He never told you that?
Struble: No.
Amendola: Are you aware that he represents at least one of the persons involved in this case?
Struble: Yes…
Amendola: Did (you) ever go to…this attorney’s website to see what kind of law he practices?
Struble: No, I didn’t
Amendola: Didn’t ask him what kind of law he practices?
Struble: No, I have never had a lawyer before or anything.
Amendola: Have you paid him for anything?
Struble: No.
Amendola: Not a penny?
Struble: No.
Amendola: How many times have you seen him?
Struble: I’m really not sure, maybe 10-15 times …(spending he testified about 45 minutes to an hour each time).
Amendola: He never talked about your testimony?
Struble: No
Amendola: He never sent you a bill?
Struble: No.
Amendola: Have you signed any sort of fee agreements with him?
Struble: I signed something. I’m not sure what it was.
Amendola: You have no idea what you signed?
Struble: No.
Amendola: Do you have a copy of it?
Struble: No.
During the cross examination, Struble admitted that he and “Victim 6,” Zach Konstas, would speak about their memories and compare notes.
The jury convicted Sandusky of abusing 10 boys – two of whom never showed up in court – based on eight men telling similar and obviously coordinated stories. The judge sentenced Sandusky to 30-60 years.
Payday for Perjury
Long before the trial, it was clear to everyone that Penn State was going to pay the accusers. It was also clear that Penn State trustee Ira Lubert, a Philadelphia real estate investor, was in control of the payments.
Lubert wanted to settle fast. He did not care if the claims were true or not. There would be no investigation. The four conditions to determine the amount to be paid were (in order of importance):
- If the attorney representing the accuser was prominent and powerful, a friend of Lubert’s, or someone who could help the entrepreneur down the road.
- Whether the abuse occurred after February 2001. That date was selected as the date Penn State was supposedly aware of Sandusky’s abuse.
- The harm it had done to the victim.
- The severity and duration of the abuse.
Attorney Shubin, aware of Lubert’s condition that prominent attorneys would get more than lower level attorneys like himself, decided to split fees with a high-powered attorney. He retained for his clients Struble, Simcisko and Ryan Rittmeyer, attorney Matthew Casey, the brother of US Senator Bob Casey.
Casey, who would collect millions of dollars from Penn State for his brief representation of Sandusky accusers, said in an interview with NBC 10 of Philadelphia, Sandusky “is going to die in prison. That he will never be able to do this to anyone else probably was the most important part of this for our clients.”
Story Changed to Fit the Need
With awareness of Lubert’s guidelines, Struble changed his story again.
Attorney Casey filed a confidential settlement document with Penn State, changing the date when the abuse ended from 1998 to 2001, the cutoff date for extra money from Penn State.
Casey wrote, “Mr. Struble was approximately 11 years old when Sandusky began sexually abusing him. This abuse continued until the Fall of 2001.”
Struble was 11 in 1995. If the abuse continued to 2001, that meant Struble was 17 years old when Sandusky still gave him naked bear hugs, cuddled with him in bed and put his hands down his pants.
Casey added a word Struble had not used at trial: “Erect.” At trial, Struble only noticed the chest hair, now he claimed to have seen or felt something else after all.
Casey wrote, “In the shower, Sandusky would wash Mr. Struble’s body and hair and press his erect penis against Mr. Struble from behind in what Sandusky called a ‘bear hug.’”
He added new details to the overnight story and the car, where 17-year-old Struble was being subjected to abuse:
“Mr. Struble routinely spent the night at the Sandusky home, where the sexual abuse continued. During those overnight visits, the sexual abuse included what Sandusky called a ‘tuck in” ritual, during which Sandusky regularly and routinely rubbed Mr. Struble’s nipples and legs. Sandusky got into bed with Mr. Struble and pressed his erect penis against Mr. Struble’s back and buttocks, and kissed his stomach.
“In Sandusky’s car, Sandusky repeatedly and routinely…placed his hand under Mr. Struble’s waistband and fondled Mr. Struble’s genitals.”
No More Repressed Memory
At trial (like other accusers), Struble used repressed memory as the excuse for changes in his story. But, according to the Penn State confidential settlement document, Struble never had repressed memory. He remembered all the time.
The settlement document read:
“Mr. Struble kept silent about Sandusky’s abuse for fear… of not being believed…”
In the settlement document, Struble claimed his life was ruined. He lost the will to live. And suffered “the loss of childhood.”
According to his testimony at trial, Struble did not lose his childhood. He forgot about the abuse and admired Sandusky until he was a 27 year old adult.
Casey continued: “Mr. Struble has suffered a diminution in earning capacity as a result of being sexually abused, including the opportunity to complete further education following high school.”
This is further proof that Struble dropped the pretense of repressed memory. If, as he testified at trial, Struble had forgotten Sandusky abused him until the doorway in the attic opened, how did he lose “the opportunity to complete further education following high school”?
This lie had an ironic point. In his Penn State statement, Struble blamed Sandusky for not pursuing higher education, but Second Mile allowed him to go to business college after high school. Struble chose to drop out and sell drugs instead.
None of this mattered. Truth never mattered in the Sandusky case.
Penn State paid Struble $3.25 million in a confidential settlement in 2013.
Aftermath
Somehow, after collecting his share of $3.25 million (almost $2 million after Casey and Shubin took their fees), Struble mustered up the will to live and bought a house, and a lake house, and a sports car.
Back to Repressed Memories
A year later, Mark Pendergrast interviewed Struble for his forensic masterpiece about the Sandusky prosecution,
Struble told the writer the story of repressed memories.
“My therapist has suggested that I may still have more repressed memories that have yet to be revealed, and this could be a big cause of the depression that I still carry today,” Struble said.
Struble downplayed his role as an informant who betrayed his friends years ago,
“I take legal drugs now,” he told Pendergrast. “I was on six, but now just four—Celexa is an anti-depressant, Xanax for anxiety, Adderall for ADHD, and Ambien to sleep at night.”
Struble got married, and accuser 6, Konstas, with whom he collaborated on memories, was his best man.
On Struble’s Facebook, however, there is a hint that his depression is ongoing.
He quotes the song Mad World, without attribution: “I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad. The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.”
The header on Struble’s Facebook features a well-known but anonymous quote:
“Someone once told me the definition of Hell. The last day you have on earth the person you became will meet the person you could have become.”
If that is true, on his last day, Struble will meet Jerry Sandusky.
The eight men who lied for money and what they got.
Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist, media strategist, publisher, and legal consultant.
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
This is absolutely maddening. How is it people cannot see what happened in this farce of a case? It is plain and simple COMMON SENSE. Money talks which is VERY evident in this case. Disgustingly sad!
He lied for money. Politicians do it all the time. Best luck to Struble. He did what anyone of us would do. He saw Sandusky was going down. He knew the fix was in. Kids not stupid. Why should everyone cash in but him.
If anyone is to blame it’s the prosecutors. They had hundreds to choose from they got eight. That’s all they needed and eight smart boys made millions. Struble did the right thing. He lied but he took care of his family. Biz guys do it all the time
The D.A.s are swindlers.
What pisses me off is that the so called law makers will not go after the real molesters. They are a gang. They protect their own. But they will still stab each other in the back if necessary. Lawlessness. Boring and mediocre but unfortunately quite dangerous.
There’s blood on my amp and my Les Paul’s beat, My best friend told me you’re the best lick in town? The rhythm of the street sure knocks you off your feet!! More more more got turbine blues. https://youtu.be/8VcONCM0BzY?si=I8PZ0nraNSPlfg1L
Another example of the Frank Report printing anything having nothing to do with his article. Why waste your time?
Could Frank help Me? John? Us Victims have rights. We’re on the map now. Such a sleazy hillbilly town run by misfits. It’s my dime and my time take it what you will. It must be normal to groom children. Listen fuck tard I’ll just block your ass.. Seeking for John Galluppi last stance. block me I’ll buy another Mac
Great report once again. With the benefit of hindsight, I’m sure Amendola would like a do-over in questioning these men. On the other hand, it may not have mattered who the defense attorney was because the verdict was predetermined. Hopefully, at some point the truth will matter and this game being played out in Pennsylvania will come to a just conclusion.
Why would he want to mentor little boys? And they would spend the ENTIRE WEEKEND at his house?
Seems awfully fishy to me. I can see a day at the field or something but why were the kids allowed to sleep over this weirdos house?
Really? Why would an adult try to mentor boys? That was your question? Look at all the situations where there is no father figure in a boys life. How does that usually end? If you were paying attention and obviously you haven’t been, the stories of the sleepovers has been blown way out of proportion just as showering with boys has been too. The stories had to be outrageous to collect and therefore they were. Please, I’m thankful you are reading the Frank Reports but use your noodle and stop with the dumb ass comments. The stories aren’t real.
It was usually not for the whole weekend, but it would be something special going on with the Sandusky family that weekend and they were like part of the family. They were kids who had home lives that were not the best. It wasn’t like Jerry Sandusky was just hanging out with these little boys. Jerry’s whole family hung out with them. The little boys stayed around till they were older.
.
I am one of those kids from the Second Mile Foster Home. I loved going over to Sanduskys. I knew his kids and wife Dottie. They treated me great. Everything we did was sports oriented. They lived next to Lemont Elementary. We went there a lot to play basketball, bucketball, football. Always had a smile on my face there. Had BBQ at his house he would invite many popular people from Penn st. Nothing ever happened to me. Nothing!!! I spent from12 to 16 years old at the foster home. These kids are liars. I am such a better person because of Jerry.
Thank you CB Breon. I lived in State College during the Second
Mile Era I admire Jerry and Dottie for opening their home . J S is innocent
Pennsylvania Judicial System is Corrupt Alot of powerful people are responsible for this .
I forgive you frank.