Clinton CYS – KCSD Absolved in Sandusky Case

HARRISBURG – A review of the Jerry Sandusky investigation released earlier this week by Attorney General Kathleen Kane absolved the Keystone Central School District and the Clinton County Children and Youth Services of any significant failings in their role in the handling of case.

The report, part of a comprehensive probe into the Sandusky prosecution, was completed by Special Deputy Attorney General H. Geoffrey Moulton Jr., working with Kane and staff.
Moulton wrote that the county CYS department responded to allegations of sexual abuse involving Sandusky and Aaron Fisher (Victim 1 in the 2012 court trial) in “textbook fashion.”

His report said Children and Youth responded in a timely manner to the first report of sexual abuse by Sandusky, but said communication between the department and law enforcement officials was less than ideal.

As no one from law enforcement or the Clinton County District Attorney’s office was present at a Jan. 15, 2009 interview between a county CYS caseworker and Sandusky, Moulton termed their absence “one significant missed opportunity” in the early stages of the investigation.

Moulton wrote, “This was a notable failure, particularly since at no point later in the investigation did law enforcement manage to interview Sandusky.”

CYS had been called into the case the prior November after Fisher (a freshman at the high school at the time) and his mother Dawn Hennessy had gone to Central Mountain High School authorities with allegations against Sandusky.

In a response to Moulton’s findings, CYS attorney Michael Angelelli wrote that agency regulations require independent investigations of suspected child abuse. He wrote Sandusky may have refused to be interviewed if law enforcement personnel had been present and termed it “disingenuous” to suggest that the county agency had “contributed to the extraordinary delay of the criminal investigation.”

Moulton’s report said the school district had complied with its suspected child abuse reporting obligations and district actions did not warrant state-level discipline.
Fisher’s mother had claimed the district made them feel they were being discouraged to go forward with the abuse report.

Moulton’s findings were that school officials had passed along the Fisher concerns one day after they met with Fisher and his mother.

Moulton said any effort to discourage the Fishers would “of course be indefensible; the bottom line is that all parties reported promptly to Clinton County CYS and the subsequent investigation appears to be unaffected.”

Moulton had visited the county last fall as part of his investigation into the handling of the Sandusky case.

It was at Central Mountain High School where Fisher and his mother had gone to school officials in November of 2008 with their concerns about Sandusky. A mammoth state investigation ultimately followed and Sandusky is serving 30 to 60 years in prison on multiple child molestation convictions.