HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - Three former Pennsylvania State University officials were sentenced to jail on Friday for covering up ex-coach Jerry Sandusky’s sexual predations and effectively letting him victimize more boys.

Penn State University President Graham Spanier poses in his office in the Old Main building in State College, Pennsylvania, in this February 26, 1997 file photo. REUTERS/Craig Houtz/File Photo

In sentencing all three men for child endangerment, Judge John Boccabella in Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas also harshly criticized the late, revered football coach Joe Paterno for failing to alert authorities.

Graham Spanier, 68, once the nation’s highest-paid public university president, was ordered incarcerated for four to 12 months with two years probation.

Former athletic director Timothy Curley, 63, was sentenced to seven to 23 months incarceration and two years probation.

Ex-vice president Gary Schultz, 67, who supervised the campus police force, was ordered to serve six to 23 months behind bars and two years probation.

The three men were accused of covering up a 2001 complaint filed by then-graduate student Michael McQueary, who said he witnessed Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy who was about 10 years old in the campus football locker room showers.

Sandusky, 73, is serving 30 to 60 years in prison after he was convicted in 2012 of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. He continues to appeal his conviction.

“Why no one made a call to the police or the Department of Public Welfare is beyond me,” the judge said.

The only motive for the men’s silence, he said, appeared to be to protect Penn State’s reputation.

Speaking in court before they were sentenced, Curley and Schultz sobbed as they apologized to the victims, saying they should have done more. Spanier, who maintained a steely composure, also apologized to the victims, his own family and the Penn State community.

“Today’s sentencings, which landed all three defendants behind bars, leaves no doubt that there are consequences for failing to protect children in Pennsylvania,” state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement.

The judge said the men could serve a substantial portion of their punishment on home confinement with electronic monitoring - meaning just two months in jail each for Spanier and Schultz and three months for Curley. Each man also was fined, with Spanier given the heftiest penalty of $7,500.

Boccabella, who said he was picked for the case because he had no Penn State connections, said incarceration was a necessary deterrent to prevent others from making the same mistake of failing to report suspected abuse.

He also criticized Paterno for not calling authorities, as well as McQueary and his father and a neighbor who counseled McQueary. All could have done more, he said.

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Deputy Attorney General Patrick Schulte also pointed a finger at Paterno for the cover-up itself, saying the trio of administrators had intended to report Sandusky to child welfare officials until they met with Paterno after the shower incident.

The sentencing ends the last criminal case in the Sandusky scandal, which broke in 2011 and led to the firing of Paterno. He died in 2012.

Since Sandusky’s conviction, Penn State has paid more than $90 million to settle civil claims filed by accusers.</s>FILE PHOTO: Penn State University President Graham Spanier poses in his office in the Old Main building in State College, Pennsylvania, in this February 26, 1997 file photo. REUTERS/Craig Houtz/File Photo

HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - The former president of Pennsylvania State University was sentenced on Friday to four to 12 months imprisonment and two years probation on a child endangerment charge tied to a coverup of child sex abuse crimes by ex-coach Jerry Sandusky.

Graham Spanier, 68, was among three former school officials accused of covering up a 2001 complaint filed by then graduate student Michael McQueary, who said he witnessed Sandusky having sex with a boy in the campus football showers.</s>The former president of Pennsylvania State University was sentenced on Friday to four to 12 months in prison and two years probation on a child endangerment charge tied to a coverup of child sex abuse crimes by ex-coach Jerry Sandusky.

Graham Spanier was among three former school officials accused of covering up a 2001 complaint filed by then graduate student Michael McQueary, who said he witnessed Sandusky having sex with a boy in the campus football showers.

Also sentenced on Friday in the coverup was former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, a former university vice president. Curley was sentenced to seven to 23 months imprisonment plus two years probation. Schultz received six to 23 months and two years probation.

Spanier, 68, Curley, 63, and Schultz, 67, were accused of covering up a 2001 complaint filed by a graduate student, Michael McQueary, who said he witnessed then assistant football coach Sandusky having sex with a boy in the campus football showers.

None of the school officials reported the incident to law enforcement or youth services.

Sandusky, 73, is serving 30 to 60 years in prison after he was convicted in 2012 of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. He continues to appeal his conviction.</s>HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - Prosecutors urged a judge to sentence Pennsylvania State University's former president to jail on Friday for his role in covering child sex abuse by Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach convicted of molesting 10 boys.

Graham Spanier, once the nation's highest paid public school president, and two other former Penn State officials are due to be sentenced on Friday on child endangerment charges in Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas in Harrisburg.

Spanier, former athletic director Timothy Curley and former Vice President Gary Schultz, who oversaw the university police department, each face up to five years behind bars for a single misdemeanor count of child endangerment but could receive a lesser penalty under the state's sentencing guidelines.

Spanier, 68, Curley, 63, and Schultz, 67, were accused of covering up a 2001 complaint filed by a graduate student, Michael McQueary, who said he witnessed then assistant football coach Sandusky having sex with a boy in the campus football showers.

None of the school officials reported the incident to law enforcement or youth services.

Sandusky, 73, is serving 30 to 60 years in prison after he was convicted in 2012 of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. He continues to appeal his conviction.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro, in a sentencing memorandum, asked that Spanier be jailed for up to 12 months, saying he ignored the 2001 report to protect his personal reputation. If he had ordered an investigation, it is "highly likely Spanier could have spared some if not all of the victims who were molested by Sandusky," Shapiro said.

"Spanier's sentence should make it loud and clear that the protection of the welfare of Pennsylvania's children should never take a back seat to the reputation of one man ever again," Shapiro said in the memorandum.

Spanier's lawyer argued against incarceration, saying his client suffers from advanced prostate cancer, a heart condition, depression and anxiety.

"Graham Spanier has already suffered severely through public shaming, loss of employment and significant reputational harm," his lawyer Samuel Silver said in a sentencing memorandum.

A jury in March convicted Spanier of child endangerment. Curley and Schultz pleaded guilty to the same charge a week before the start of the trial.

Shapiro did not recommend a particular sentence for Curley and Schultz.

The sentencing ends the last criminal case in the Sandusky scandal, which broke in 2011 and led to the firing of long-time football coach Joe Paterno. The beloved coach known as "Joe Pa" was never charged. He died in 2012.

A charity Sandusky founded for at-risk youth, the Second Mile, where he met his victims, was dissolved in 2016.

McQueary, who later became a Penn State assistant football coach, was fired by the university in the wake of Sandusky's arrest in 2011. A Pennsylvania judge last year ruled that McQueary qualified as a whistleblower under state law and awarded him a total of $12 million from Penn State.

Since Sandusky's conviction, Penn State has paid more than $90 million to settle civil claims filed by accusers.</s>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Latest on the sentencing of ex-Penn State officials in the Sandusky scandal (all times local):

Three ex-Penn State officials are getting jail time for failing to report now-convicted sexual predator Jerry Sandusky to authorities.

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier and former vice president Gary Schultz will have to spend two months in jail. Former athletic director Tim Curley will spend three months in jail. The rest of their sentences will be served in house arrest.

A graduate coaching assistant told administrators that he saw Sandusky molesting a boy in a football team shower in 2001. But Spanier, Curley and Schultz didn’t report him to child welfare authorities or police.

Sandusky wasn’t arrested until a tip in 2011 led investigators to interview the shower witness. Sandusky is now serving a 30- to-60-year sentence for abusing 10 boys, but is appealing.

Prosecutors say former Penn State President Graham Spanier was a “failure as a leader when it matter most,” when university administrators failed to act on a 2001 sex abuse allegation against ex-assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Laura Ditka, a prosecutor in the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, says Spanier chose to “protect his reputation and the reputation of his friends and the reputation of the University above the well-being of some innocent children. She called that inexcusable.

Spanier, former athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz are to be sentenced later Friday for failing to alert authorities to the allegation against Sandusky. All have all been convicted of child endangerment in the case.

Two ex-Penn State officials have apologized to the sex abuse victims of Jerry Sandusky while awaiting sentencing for failing to alert authorities to a 2001 allegation against the ex-assistant football coach, allowing the now-convicted serial predator to continue molesting boys for years.

Former university athletic director Tim Curley, former vice president Gary Schultz, and ex- president Graham Spanier, have all been convicted of child endangerment in the case.

The 63-year-old Curley and 67-year-old Schultz told the judge Friday they were sorry they didn’t do more. The 68-year-old Spanier is to speak to the court later, before all three were to be sentenced.

Prosecutors slammed all three men, saying they cared more about themselves than about protecting children.

Ex-Penn State President Graham Spanier (SPAN’-yur) and two other former school administrators are facing sentencing for child endangerment for failing to report now-convicted sexual predator Jerry Sandusky to authorities.

Prosecutors are seeking jail time for Spanier at Friday’s hearing in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Sentencing guidelines call for up to a year in prison.

A graduate coaching assistant told administrators that he saw Sandusky molesting a boy in a football team shower in 2001.

But Spanier, former athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz didn’t report him to child welfare authorities or police.

Sandusky was not arrested until a tip in 2011 led investigators to interview the shower witness. Sandusky is now serving a 30- to-60-year sentence for abusing 10 boys, but is appealing.

Never miss another Facebook post from WISH-TV</s>Three former officials at Penn State University were sentenced Friday to jail for failing to report a child sex abuse allegation against Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach of the university’s football team, the Penn State Nittany Lions. Former Penn State president Graham Spanier, former vice president Gary Schultz, and former athletic director Tim Curley…</s>Several high-ranking officials and administrators at Penn State failed to report decades of assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse, and now, they’re paying the price.

Former Penn State president Graham Spanier, ex-vice president Gary Schultz and former athletic director Tim Curley all were convicted of child endangerment charges Friday. All three will serve jail time; Spanier could serve a minimum of two months and a maximum of one year, while Schultz and Curley could serve minimum sentences of two and three months, respectively, and maximums of 23 months.

Spanier, Schultz and Curley were found guilty of the charges in March, when prosecutors determined they knew of Sandusky molesting boys on Penn State’s campus for many years but, along with head football coach Joe Paterno, declined to alert authorities. According to prosecutors, none of the men reported an accusation by Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary, who said he witnessed Sandusky abusing a teenage male in a Penn State shower in 2001.

Spanier apologized before his sentencing Friday but plans to appeal the charges.

“I deeply regret I didn’t intervene more forcefully,” Spanier said, via USA TODAY Sports. “I am very remorseful I did not comprehend the severity of the situation. I sincerely apologize to the victims and to all who were impacted because of my mistake.”

Sandusky is serving a 30-to-60-year prison sentence after being found guilty of 45 counts of sexual abuse in 2012.

Have a question for Darren Hartwell? Send it to him via Twitter at @darren_hartwell. .story-footer</s>Former Pennsylvania State University president Graham Spanier was sentenced to serve two months in jail and an additional two to 10 months of house arrest for failing to alert law enforcement about a 2001 incident involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and a boy in a campus shower, one of the final words from the criminal justice system on the shocking saga of missed opportunities to stop a sexual predator associated with one of America’s most storied college football programs.

Prosecutors had been seeking nine to 18 months of incarceration, while defense attorneys had asked for probation and community service for Spanier, 68, citing his advanced age and health issues including prostate cancer and imminent open-heart surgery. Judge John Boccabella sentenced Spanier to serve four-to-12 months total, with the first two months in jail, with an additional two years’ probation, $7,500 in fines and 200 hours of community service. Spanier’s attorneys have said they plan to appeal his conviction.

Spanier was the only one of three Penn State administrators charged in connection with the Sandusky investigation to take his case to trial but, in a surprise, his two former colleagues who reached plea deals and testified at Spanier’s trial received harsher sentences. Former athletic director Tim Curley, 63, was sentenced to seven to 23 months total, with three months in jail, and at least four months under house arrest. Former vice president Gary Schultz, 67, who oversaw the university’s police force, was sentenced to six to 23 months, with two months to be served in jail and four months under house arrest. All three men were convicted of the same misdemeanor charge of child endangerment.

The three Penn State administrators initially faced more serious charges, including obstruction of justice and perjury, that an appeals court dismissed in 2016 with a ruling the men had been improperly represented during grand jury testimony by Penn State’s former university counsel, Cynthia Baldwin, who the men thought was representing them personally, but who actually represented only the university and eventually testified against them in grand jury proceedings. Spanier also had been charged with felony child endangerment and conspiracy, but a jury in March acquitted him on both counts.

Sandusky was convicted in 2012 of sexually abusing boys he accessed through his Second Mile charity for at-risk children.</s>Former Penn State University President Graham Spanier and two other former administrators were sentenced to jail terms Friday for failing to report a 2001 allegation that assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was molesting young boys.

Former Athletic Director Tim Curley and former Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz — who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of child endangerment — also got jail terms followed by house arrest.</s>Three former Penn State officials will be spending a few months in jail for their failure to report former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky to authorities, back when they first heard about Sandusky's sexual abuse of children.

Former university President Graham Spanier was given the most lenient sentence among the three men, The Associated Press reports:



"Ex-president Graham Spanier, 68, got a sentence of 4 to 12 months, with the first two to be spent in jail and the rest under house arrest. "Former university athletic director Tim Curley, 63, received a sentence of 7 to 23 months, with three in jail. Former vice president Gary Schultz, 67, was sentenced to 6 to 23 months, with two months behind bars."



All three men were convicted of misdemeanor charges of child endangerment. Spanier had also been accused of conspiracy, but a jury acquitted him on that charge.

Spanier plans to appeal, the AP writes. Sandusky continues to appeal his sentence.

Sandusky, a former assistant coach in Penn State's football program, is serving a 30- to 60-year term in prison after he was convicted on 45 counts of child sexual abuse. His molestation of multiple boys spanned a decade and a half.

In 2001, a graduate assistant named Mike McQueary saw Sandusky abusing a boy and reported what he observed to head coach Joe Paterno, Schultz and Curley. Those men described McQueary's account to Spanier.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that emails show the officials considering, then rejecting, the idea of reporting Sandusky to the police.

Sandusky was not arrested until 2011, a decade later.
Former Pennsylvania State University president Graham Spanier, former vice president Gary Schultz, and former athletic director Timothy Curley are sentenced to prison for covering up ex-coach Jerry Sandusky's criminal sexual acts, thereby letting him victimize more boys.