Victim No. 4 stared straight at Jerry Sandusky, sentenced to 30-60 years for molesting boys during his tenure as Penn State’s defensive football coordinator, and outlined the serial child molester’s sinister modus operandi.
First, Sandusky selected Victim No. 4, then an unsuspecting youth, to be his “special boy” — a privileged role for a kid who revered the older man as a father figure. According to court transcripts, Sandusky treated Victim No. 4 to exciting experiences reserved for the very few.
For example, he was allowed to try on uniforms belonging to star players in the locker room; stood on the sidelines with the coach; was invited to bowl games and banquets. The boy was elevated to an unofficial team mascot.
Then the horror unfolded — again and again and again.
“You were the person in my life who was supposed to be my role model,” Victim No. 4 told Sandusky in the hushed courtroom. “I can’t begin to express how this has [destroyed] my life. Because of you, I trust no one and I will not allow my own child out of my sight for fear of what might happen to him.”
Of all the losses this man has suffered, the inability to trust carved the deepest gash in his soul. Hopefully, counseling will help Victim No. 4 embrace the truth — that he did nothing wrong. He simply trusted a smiling devil.
Clueless or consciously cunning, Sandusky has proclaimed that the trial represents a vast conspiracy crafted by his former “boys.” He has committed no crime. He is innocent. It is all a lie.
Punishment does not erase the crime. Unless the perpetrator owns up to the act or acts that put him behind bars, prison is a holding pattern. Fantasized innocence prevents repentance. The victims, who are physically free, are truly imprisoned — by imaginary crimes and ghastly memories. We pray for their strength, healing, and the return of hope.
Let Sandusky rot.
Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News
