Jerry Sandusky arrested on new charges of child sex abuse

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested and jailed Wednesday on new charges of child sex abuse brought by two new accusers. One of the accusers claims that Sandusky molested him numerous times in a basement bedroom, authorities said.

The claims bring the number of Sandusky’s alleged victims to 10, and he now faces more than 50 charges stemming from accusations that he molested boys for years on Penn State property, in his home and elsewhere.

The scandal has raised questions about whether Penn State officials did all they should have to stop the alleged activity and ended the careers of school president Graham Spanier and football coach Joe Paterno.

Sandusky, 67, was first arrested last month and has said repeatedly that he is innocent. The latest charges were brought after new accusers were questioned by a grand jury, which issued another report detailing chilling new allegations of abuse.

Sandusky lawyer Joseph Amendola said after the arraignment Wednesday that he had not yet read the latest grand jury report, but he said he has no reason to doubt Sandusky’s claims of innocence. Sandusky was unable to immediately post a $250,000 bail and was taken to jail.

A county district attorney who has sharply criticized police and Syracuse University for their handling of sex-abuse allegations against a fired assistant basketball coach said he cannot bring charges but found that two men who accused Bernie Fine of sexual abuse are credible.

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said his investigation into the claims against Fine started out to answer several questions, among them: Were the first two accusers, Bobby Davis and his stepbrother Michael Lang, being truthful?

“On almost every single criteria, Bobby Davis came out as a credible person,” the district attorney said. “Mike Lang also comes across as a credible person.”

Fitzpatrick said the statute of limitations on claims brought by Davis and Lang for abuses they said happened in the 1980s is long past, barring prosecution. Under the laws at the time, they would have had to make their claims to police within five years of the alleged abuse. Davis did not come forward until 2002 and Lang until this year.

On a third accuser, 23-year-old Zach Tomaselli, Fitzpatrick said he turned over school records and team travel records that may call into question Tomaselli’s claim that Fine abused him in 2002 in a Pittsburgh hotel when the team played a game there. He called the records “exculpatory,” which is evidence that helps the defense. Fine’s lawyers have said the records appear to prove that Tomaselli lied.

Tomaselli is one of three men who accuse Fine of molesting them when they were boys. Tomaselli’s claims are the only ones among the three that are eligible for prosecution within the statute of limitations.

NCAA President Mark Emmert said the organization could look into changing its bylaws to better establish its authority to address situations such as the scandals involving child sex abuse at Penn State and Syracuse.

The NCAA is examining whether Penn State violated bylaws covering institutional control and ethical conduct in its handling of accusations of child sex abuse. It is monitoring the Syracuse situation but has not initiated an inquiry.

ETC.

NBA players agreed to additional drug testing, adding off-season screening for performance-enhancing drugs only.

Billy Hunter, executive director of the union, sent a memo Wednesday, obtained by The Associated Press, to players detailing these and other changes of a new labor deal and recommended they ratify the agreement.

According to the memo, beginning in the 2012-13 season, players can be tested up to two times during the off-season for steroids and performance-enhancing drugs only. They would not be screened for drugs such as marijuana.

Previously, the NBA did not test players during its off-season. The memo said a majority of players will be tested no more than four times throughout an entire year, and that no tests could be given at the arena on the night of a game.

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A person familiar with the situation said Tracy McGrady probably will sign a one-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because signings can’t be announced until the new NBA labor agreement is ratified.

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Lindsey Vonn earned her first World Cup victory in a race in the United States, winning the super-G at Beaver Creek, Colo.

The Birds of Prey course, usually reserved for men’s races, hosted its first women’s race and Vonn turned in a dominant performance. She finished in 1:10.68, holding off Fabienne Suter of Switzerland by 0.37 of a second. Anna Fenninger of Austria was third.

Vonn’s 46th World Cup win moved her into a tie with Austria’s Renate Goetschl for third on the career list.

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Three-time European champion Manchester United was eliminated from the Champions League when it lost, 2-1, at FC Basel, with Manchester City joining its local rival on the sideline despite beating Bayern Munich.

United needed only to avoid defeat in Switzerland to secure a 15th knockout-round appearance in 16 Champions League seasons but drops into the Europa League while Basel advances.

City also heads into the second-tier tournament despite a 2-0 win against Bayern. Napoli’s 2-0 win at Villarreal took the Italian side through instead.

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Dallas Stars defenseman Mark Fistric was suspended for three games by the NHL for a hit that left Nino Niederreiter of the New York Islanders with a concussion.

Brendan Shanahan, an NHL senior vice president, said Fistric was punished for leaving his feet during a strong check after Niederreiter took a pass and skated through center ice No penalty was called on the play.

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Norman Powell, a freshman guard for the struggling UCLA basketball team, suffered an allergic reaction during practice Wednesday and was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, according to a news release from the school. Powell was to be kept overnight for observation and will not practice Thursday.

Powell is averaging 4.6 points a game and has played in all seven of UCLA’s games. The Bruins (2-5) play Saturday against Pennsylvania at Honda Center.

They already are without last season’s leading scorer and rebounder, Reeves Nelson, who is serving his second suspension of this season for issues regarding his conduct while with the team. On Tuesday, Coach Ben Howland said it was unlikely Nelson would be reinstated before Saturday’s game and would not be practicing with the team unless he was reinstated.

— Diane Pucin

The Pepperdine men’s basketball team is losing assistant coach Damin Lopez to a high school team in Arizona. Lopez is the new coach at Scottsdale Chaparral High and returns to his home state after four seasons on the staff at Pepperdine, where he played from 1990 to 1994. Waves Coach Marty Wilson said John Impelman, the team’s director of operations, will take over for Lopez for the rest of the season.

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Graham James, a former junior hockey coach and convicted sex offender, pleaded guilty to sexual assaults involving two of his former players, including retired NHL star Theoren Fleury.

The disgraced coach faced nine charges of sexual assault involving three players in connection with incidents alleged to have taken place from 1979 to 1994. He pleaded guilty only to charges involving two. The names of the two other players are protected under a court-ordered publication ban.

James has served a 31/2 -year prison sentence for abusing other players he coached.

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Formula One is returning to the United States in 2012 with the U.S. Grand Prix at Austin, Texas, on Nov. 18. Race organizers announced a 10-year deal with series boss Bernie Ecclestone, ending a contract dispute that threatened to scuttle the race and a $300-million track that is being built for it.

The Austin race will be Formula One’s first in the U.S. since 2007.

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Roger Federer committed to play for Switzerland against the United States in a first-round match in the 2012 Davis Cup to be held Feb. 10-12 at Fribourg, Switzerland. The 16-time Grand Slam singles champion has not played in a first-round match since 2004.