Penn State’s Mike McQueary says he told police of alleged rape

Mike McQueary, the Penn State assistant football coach under fire for his reported lack of action in an alleged 2002 rape of a boy by Jerry Sandusky, said in an email to a former classmate that he stopped the assault in an athletic facility shower and discussed it with police.

In the email obtained by the Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call, McQueary wrote that he “did have discussions with police and with the official at the university in charge of police” following the alleged incident between Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant coach, and a boy. McQueary also wrote that he “is getting hammered for handling this the right way or what I thought at the time was right.”

“I had to make tough impacting quick decisions,” McQueary wrote.

In a brief interview with CBS News on Tuesday, McQueary said he could not discuss specifics of the situation but described his emotions as “all over the place.”

“Just kind of shaking. Crazy,” McQueary said. “Like a snow globe.”

McQueary has been criticized widely for not going directly to police to report the alleged abuse. In an appearance Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said McQueary met “the minimum obligation” in reporting the incident to his superiors, including former coach Joe Paterno, but did not “meet a moral obligation that all of us would have.”

According to the grand jury report, the graduate assistant, later identified as McQueary, said he saw a boy, whose age he estimated at 10 years old, “being subjected to anal intercourse” by a naked Sandusky in a shower at the Penn State football building in March 2002. The graduate assistant left “immediately,” was “distraught” and called his father. His father told him to leave the building and come to his home.

In the email, dated Nov. 8, McQueary said “I did stop it, not physically, but made sure it was stopped when I left that locker room.”

“No one can imagine my thoughts or wants to be in my shoes for those 30-45 seconds,” McQueary wrote. “Trust me.”

Asked about McQueary’s statement in the email that he had discussions with police, Penn State police said they were deferring to the university public relations office, which did not return a call Tuesday afternoon. Pennsylvania State Police in Harrisburg, which is heading the investigation, did not return a call.

McQueary, whose CBS interview was his first since the grand jury report was released, declined to be interviewed by The Morning Call. He was placed on administrative leave last week after Penn State officials said he had received threats.

A call left for McQueary’s lawyer was not returned. The State College Police Department did not return a call for comment.

The email obtained by the Morning Call is the second to surface from McQueary in which he claims the facts of his involvement are distorted. NBC News reported Monday night that McQueary emailed friends and former teammates, telling them, “I did the right thing … you guys know me … the truth is not out there fully … I didn’t just turn and run … I made sure it stopped … I had to make quick tough decisions.”

This new email, however, is the first in which McQueary says he had discussions with police. It also offers more details about the alleged shower incident than was disclosed in the grand jury report.

Asked whether there is a file on McQueary’s alleged report to the university police in 2002, attorney general’s office spokesman Nils Frederiksen said he could not discuss matters that might still be before the grand jury.

“Any evidence that might still be before the grand jury remains under seal,” Frederiksen said.

On Tuesday morning, Joseph Amendola, Sandusky’s lawyer, told NBC’s “Today Show” that he believes he has identified the alleged victim in the 2002 incident. Amendola added that the alleged victim, “if we have found him,” is telling “a very different story.”

“He’s saying it never happened,” Amendola said in the interview.

According to the grand jury report, McQueary spoke with Paterno the day after the alleged incident and later met with athletic director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, vice president for finance and business. Curley and Schultz have been charged with perjury and failure to report. Curley was placed on administrative leave, and Schultz, who oversaw university police, returned to retirement.

Penn State’s Board of Trustees fired Paterno, and University President Graham Spanier resigned last week.

Sandusky is charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of children and free on $100,000 bail.

Morning Call reporter Peter Hall contributed to this report.