Penn State Victim's Mom: He Didn't Want Another Boy Hurt

Angry mothers of two victims in the Penn State sex abuse scandal are revealing their sons' heartbreaking pain, frustration, and their bravery at pressing charges. "I'm very proud of him," said one mom. “He’s a brave kid. And his major concern was for anybody else. That was his big thing. He said, ‘I don’t want this to happen to anybody else.’” Her boy met coach Jerry Sandusky—who has now been hit with 40 counts involving sex abuse of eight boys—at a charity for needy children that Sandusky started, reports the Patriot Ledger. Her son, then 15, was star-struck by the famous coach but quickly seemed troubled by something, his mom recounted. He finally revealed his abuse to his high school principal. Three years after the boy and his mom came forward to complain, Sandusky was finally charged.

Another victim, approached in the showers by Sandusky, had come forward 10 years earlier, but his complaints were dismissed by authorities. It was all a big mistake, mother and son were told at the time. "I'm so upset," said the mom of that victim, now 24. "My son is extremely distraught." Sandusky “admitted it to my face,” the mother said. “He admitted that he lathered up my son, they were naked." They should have "done something about it in 1998, and then again in 2002" when a graduate assistant spotted Sandusky with a boy in the showers, she said. "There were two chances they dropped the ball, and I think they should all be held accountable.” (More sex abuse stories.)