Jerry Sandusky trial: Drama unfolds as Victim 10 recounts threats

A third man on Wednesday described how he was forced to perform sex acts on former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, saying Sandusky threatened him not to tell anyone of the incident.

The man, known as Victim 10, described how Sandusky first took him to the basement in the coach’s home in State College, Pa., tussled with the then-11-year-old boy and eventually disrobed him and carried out an oral sex act. The man, now 25, told of a series of attacks at the home, in a car and at an area pool between 1997 and 1999.

Sandusky told him that “I’d never see my family again” if he told anyone, the witness said, according to media reports from the courtroom.

Later, Sandusky was kinder and apologized for the threat, the witness said. “He told me he didn’t mean it and that he loved me,” the accuser said, according to the reports.

Sandusky, 68, is charged with 52 counts of abusing 10 boys over 15 years. Victim 10, who testified on the third day of the evidence phase of the trial, is the first accuser to testify from the second group of charges. Those charges were based on two men who came forward after Sandusky was arrested in November.

During cross-examination, the defense stressed the witness’ troubled past, which includes a conviction for robbery and problems with alcohol and drugs.

Defense attorney Joseph Amendola pressed the witness about the sequence of events and the 23 months he served in state prison for robbing an older man. Amendola pointed out that one of the witness’ former roommates at summer camp has also accused Sandusky of sexual abuse. The camp was sponsored by the Second Mile, a charity founded by Sandusky.

But the witness insisted that his account of the abuse was accurate. After he left the stand, his foster mother testified that he had told her that he didn’t want to see Sandusky any more. When she heard of Sandusky’s arrest, she said, her heart sank.

“It made me sick,” she said. “I had that feeling as soon as I heard what was going on. I know [her son] had been with him. “

Earlier, John McQueary, the father of Mike McQueary, a former Penn State graduate assistant who testified on Tuesday, took the stand. The younger McQueary testified that he saw a naked Sandusky committing a sex act in the showers at Penn State with a naked 10- or 12-year-old boy in 2001. McQueary testified he called his father and asked what to do.

The elder McQueary testified that he told his son to go to head football coach Joe Paternoand tell him what he saw. The younger McQueary did that the next day.

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