PENNSYLVANIA RECORD

Three victims who as minors were sexually abused by former Penn State assistant

football coach Jerry Sandusky have filed legal papers seeking to block The Second Mile charitable organization from dissolving and transferring its assets to a Texas youth charity.

Sandusky, who was convicted last week on 45 of the 48 counts of child molestation against him, founded The Second Mile in the late 1970s as a way to help disadvantaged youth in central Pennsylvania.

The organization, which is based in State College, Pa., filed court papers last month seeking to close its doors, and transfer millions of dollars in assets to Houston-based Arrow Child and Family Ministries.

Officials with The Second Mile have stated that the Sandusky child sex-abuse case has made it difficult for the charitable group to raise financial support.

The organization also put its headquarters up for sale to the tune of $750,000.

Earlier this week, attorneys for Victims 3, 5 and 7 filed an objection in the Centre County Orphans’ Court that seeks to have a judge prevent The Second Mile from transferring and dissolving its charitable assets on the grounds that it could be on the hook for legal costs arising out of the Sandusky scandal.

“Because Sandusky founded TSM and sexually abused minors such as John Doe A and Victims 3, 5 and 7 that he met and groomed through TSM, there is a legitimate basis to believe that TSM will incur substantial liabilities on account of its own negligence and/or its vicarious responsibility for Sandusky’s actions,” the objection reads.

“It is very likely that TSM will be named in forthcoming civil actions to be filed by victims such as Victim 3, 5, 7 who testified in the criminal trial and/or by others such as John Doe A who have come forward or have yet to come forward. These victims have suffered profound emotional and psychological injuries for which TSM may be found liable in the civil courts.”

A copy of the filing was provided to the Pennsylvania Record by attorney Thomas Kline, of the Philadelphia injury firm Kline & Specter, a civil lawyer for one of the victims.

The petition was also signed by St. Paul, Minn. attorney Jeff Anderson who represents John Doe A.

Anderson had filed suit in late November of last year at Philadelphia’s Common Pleas Court on behalf of “Doe.” The complaint was filed around the time Sandusky was arrested on child molestation charges.

In that civil filing, Doe, who was not party to the criminal proceedings, alleges that he was molested by Sandusky in 1992 when they boy was 10 years old.

Doe, the lawsuit contends, met Sandusky through The Second Mile.

That lawsuit names as defendants The Second Mile, Penn State University and Sandusky himself. It contains various counts against The Second Mile, including negligent supervision, premises liability, negligent misrepresentation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, intentional misrepresentation, and civil conspiracy to endanger children.