HARRISBURG – Former Penn State President Graham Spanier is free on $125,000 unsecured bail after being arraigned on charges related to the child sex abuse case of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Spanier was arraigned Wednesday morning by a Harrisburg district justice on charges including perjury, obstruction and conspiracy. He has denied the allegations and claimed he is being framed for political purposes.
The 64-year-old Spanier led Penn State for 16 years before being forced out a year ago when Sandusky was charged along with two of Spanier’s top underlings. Spanier is a faculty member on paid leave.
Last Thursday, Spanier became the latest high-ranking school official to face charges in the child sex abuse scandal involving Sandusky.
He is charged with perjury, two counts of endangering the welfare of children, three counts of conspiracy, obstruction and failure to report suspected child abuse.
Additional charges were also filed last week against two other school officials already charged in the case: former Penn State Director of Athletics Tim Curley and former Penn State Senior Vice President Gary Shultz. All three men face the same five charges.
An investigation led by ex-FBI Director Louis Freeh concluded that Spanier failed in his duties as president by not informing the board of trustees about the allegations against Sandusky or about the subsequent grand jury investigation.
Freeh’s report identified Spanier as one of four Penn State leaders — including Shultz, Curley and Joe Paterno — who covered up Sandusky’s abuses to spare the university bad publicity.
Spanier has told investigators he wasn’t notified of any criminal behavior by Sandusky during his 16 years as president. In June, a jury found Sandusky guilty of 45 counts of child sex abuse, and Sandusky was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.
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