(Reuters) – Former FBI director Louis Freeh is due to release a report on Thursday on an eight-month probe into how Penn State University handled the case of assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, convicted last month of sexually abusing 10 boys.
Pennsylvania State University’s trustees hired Freeh and his law firm to investigate the school’s handling of the explosive allegations involving Sandusky, the defensive coach who helped turn Penn State into a perennial powerhouse under late head coach Joe Paterno.
The findings could influence Penn State as it prepares for potential civil lawsuits. The university has already invited victims to try to resolve claims against the school. The report could also shed light on any criminal liability for two university officials charged with perjury and failing to report what they knew about Sandusky. Both have pleaded not guilty.
“There are high expectations for the report,” said Thomas R. Kline, a lawyer in Philadelphia representing one of the victims. He said the findings would “serve as a guideline and a road map” for the potential lawsuits.
The report was due to be published online at 9 a.m. EDT, and Freeh scheduled a news conference at 10 a.m. EDT in Philadelphia.
Sandusky, 68, was convicted of 45 counts of child molestation involving 10 boys over 15 years and awaits sentencing, facing up to 373 years in prison.
The grand jury charges against Sandusky last November prompted the firing of university President Graham Spanier and Paterno, the legendary “JoePa” who won more games than any other major college football coach. Paterno died two months later of lung cancer at age 85.
At the heart of the Freeh probe is how Paterno and other Penn State officials reacted to the story of Mike McQueary, a graduate assistant who told them in 2001 he had seen Sandusky in a sexual position with a boy in a football locker room shower. Neither police nor child protective services were informed.
Former Athletic Director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, a former university vice president, face charges of perjury and failure to report suspected abuse in the case.
LEAKS ALLEGED
The probe had been marked by “a virtual torrent of leaks,” with the release of “select emails intended to smear Joe Paterno and other former Penn State officials,” his family said in a statement that questioned the fairness of the investigation.
An email, written by Curley and provided to CNN, appeared to suggest Paterno had urged his colleagues not to report the incident to Sandusky’s charity or to the Department of Public Welfare.
The Paternos denied Joe Paterno had told Curley to cover up the incident. They said they welcomed meeting with Freeh to review the findings and respond to them.
CNN reported last month that emails among Spanier, Curley and Schultz showed they feared they could be “vulnerable” for failing to report the incident.
Spanier’s attorneys, Peter Vaira and Elizabeth Ainslie, said on Tuesday that he had denied knowing about the 2001 incident when Freeh’s team interviewed him on Friday.
The online publication will be the first time anyone outside the probe has seen the report, including Penn State trustees, Freeh said in a statement.
Freeh was a U.S. District judge when former U.S. President Bill Clinton named him to run the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1993, remaining in the post through 2001.
(Additional reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Daniel Trotta, Lily Kuo and Cynthia Osterman)