The wife of former assistant Penn State football coach and convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky said in a letter that her husband is “not the monster everyone is making him out to be”
Dottie Sandusky made the statement in a message she sent to Judge John Cleland after her husband of nearly five decades was convicted of sexually abusing 10 young boys.
The letter, which is dated July 9, roughly two weeks after her husband’s conviction, has been released by the Common Pleas Court in McKean County, Pa.
The letter reads:
Dear Judge Cleland:
I am Dottie Sandusky, Jerry Sandusky's wife of 46 years in September. It is with a heavy heart I write this to you. I have known Jerry for 47 years and he has always been truthful with me, even if it hurt. He is a very up front man and a man of very high morals.
Jerry always put others before himself and always wanted to make each person feel special no matter who they were. Like all of us he has his faults, one is he cares so much for people always wanting them to reach their potential. Therefore he pushes them hard. One 42 year old man who was in the Second Mile stopped by the other day and told me how thankful he is to Jerry for pushing him to be the best he could be. He said, "What I learned from Jerry has made me a better husband and father." This is a young man who had many strikes against him.
Jerry was a wonderful father to our six children. We thank God each day for bringing them into our life. He treated each one as if they were our biological children. Our house was a fun house with lots of games, picnics, laughs and caring. There were always lots of people around whether it was friends of our kids, Second Mile kids or neighbors.
I never saw him doing anything inappropriate to any child, if I had, as a Mother and Grandmother I would have taken action. Jerry is not the monster everyone is making him out to be.
Many times he would give up much of his free time, which was not many hours when he was a coach, to make a sporting event of one of the kids he was trying to help. Sometimes we would drive two hours to spend time with these kids.
One of the accusers called Jerry and said he could not do his school work because his computer broke and Jerry found a used computer that someone was not using and gave it to him. Fact is most of the things he gave to the accusers were used or given to him by people who wanted to help these young men.
I use [sic] to believe in our protective system, but now have no faith in the police or legal system. To think that they can lie and get by with the lies. The press has been unbelievable. People who have not met us are writing untruths.
As far as our son Matt goes, people need to know what kind of person he is. We have forgiven him many times for all he has done to our family thinking that he was changing his life, but he would always go back to his stealing and lies. He has been diagnosed with Bipolar, but he refuses to take his medicine. He has had many run-ins with the law and stolen money and items from our family. We still love him and want the best for him, but because of his actions we cannot express this to him.
I pray each day that God will give me the strength to do what is right and that I will be able to hold our family together.
Thank you for listening.
Sincerely,
Dorothy D. Sandusky
Jerry Sandusky, 68, was sentenced Tuesday to 30 to 60 years in prison. The ex-coach has been locked in Centre County prison since June 22, when a jury of seven women and five men found him guilty of 45 out of 48 counts against him for sexual abuse of 10 young boys. The allegations led to the ouster of university president Graham Spanier and longtime Nittany Lions football coach Joe Paterno, who died in January.
In his statement before Cleland announced the prison term, Sandusky insisted he was innocent.
"I didn’t do these alleged disgusting acts," he said. "I speak today with hope in my heart for a brighter day... this is the worst loss of my life."
Judge Cleland told Sandusky that he received a fair trial. Cleland acknowledged Sandusky had done some good through his charitable work, but his contributions were outweighed by "evil" criminal acts.
“You abused the trust of those who trusted you," Cleland said. "The crime is not only what you did to their bodies, but the assault to their psyches and souls.”
Sandusky is being held at the county jail, pending transfer to a state prison in Camp Hill, where corrections officials will determine where to incarcerate him.
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