Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State University football coach facing charges of sexual abuse of boys, denied in an interview with The New York Times that he molested any child and said his charitable work with children had been falsely portrayed. Sandusky said prosecutors had misrepresented his work with children through the charity he founded, the Second Mile. “They've taken everything that I ever did for any young person and twisted it to say that my motives were sexual or whatever,” Sandusky said in the interview published Saturday. Sandusky, 67, told The New York Times that the youths who participated in the Second Mile were like “an extended family.” He and his wife Dorothy adopted and were foster parents to several children. “I am not the monster I've been tried to make out to be. I never engaged in sexual acts with these young kids.” The newspaper said he did confirm some of the details of his interactions with the youths such as having Second Mile children frequently at his home and giving them money and gifts. The prosecutors' report charged that the former assistant football coach used the gifts to come closer to the boys. But Sandusky told The New York Times some of the gifts were items donated to the Second Mile for the children, and that he tried to help them save money by opening bank accounts for them. On Nov. 5, Sandusky was charged with 40 counts of sex crimes involving eight boys over more than a decade. He is said to have met the boys through the Second Mile. One of the charges is that he attacked a boy in a football locker room on campus in 2002. Sandusky retired in 1999. On Nov. 30 a ninth accuser, now aged 29, filed suit against Sandusky, saying the coach had abused him “over 100 times” as a child. The scandal led to the firing of Penn State's revered football coach Joe Paterno and the university president. Two former university officials have been charged with not reporting an alleged 2002 rape by Sandusky. They have also said they are innocent. The newspaper conducted the interview over two days at the home of Sandusky's lawyer, Joseph Amendola. Sandusky also said that Paterno did not talk with him about allegations of improper interactions with underage boys. Paterno's lack of action when he became aware of the allegations of sexual abuse were cited as a reason for his firing. An initial hearing in the case is set for Dec. 13, and if convicted Sandusky could face life in prison. Sandusky was released on $100,000 bail.
