Jerry Sandusky Facing New Charges in Assault Scandal

If convicted, the disgraced coach faces nearly a century in prison.

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Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General / AP

Former Penn State football defensive coordinator Gerald "Jerry" Sandusky, center, is escorted in handcuffs to a waiting police car

Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant football coach at Penn State who is embroiled in a scandal in which he is accused of several episodes of child sexual assault, was arrested and arraigned once again on Wednesday on new charges stemming from a grand jury investigation into the alleged assaults.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly’s office said two new victims, in addition to the original eight he was accused of assaulting, testified to a grand jury that they had also been assaulted by Sandusky, 67, who is accused of manipulating the children, all boys, through their participation in The Second Mile youth organization around 2004.

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“As in many of the other cases identified to date, the contact with Sandusky allegedly fit a pattern of ‘grooming’ victims,” Kelly said in a statement. “Beginning with outings to football games and gifts, they later included physical contact that escalated to sexual assaults.”

Both of the new victims were allegedly influenced by Sandusky and given gifts, taken to Penn State football games. The activity eventually escalated to wrestling with the boys and ultimately to the assaults, which allegedly took place at his home and in hotel swimming pools and jacuzzis.

The new arrest comes three weeks after the scandal first erupted, rocking the Penn State campus and resulting in the firing of legendary Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, the resignation of several administrators at the school in relation to a cover-up of the assaults, and the placing on indefinite paid leave of Mike McQueary, who witnessed one of the incidents and went to school officials with what he saw.

Sandusky was charged with four new counts of sexual assault against the boys and two counts of unlawful contact with them, each offense is punishable by 20 years in prison and $25,000 fines. He was being held by authorities pending payment of $250,000 bail. If he does make bail, he will be subject to electronic monitoring and house arrest, according to officials in Kelly’s office. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 13.

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