Sandusky says he’s not a pedophile

NEW YORK – A former Penn State football assistant coach charged with sexually abusing eight boys in a scandal that has rocked the university said Monday that there was no abuse and that any activities in a campus shower with a boy were just horseplay, not molestation.

In a telephone interview Monday night on NBC News’ “Rock Center,” Bob Costas asked Jerry Sandusky if he’s a pedophile and Sandusky responded, “No.”

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported on its website late Monday that close to 10 additional suspected victims have come forward to authorities since Sandusky’s arrest, according to people close to the investigation. The paper said police were working to confirm the new allegations.

Sandusky, once considered veteran coach Joe Paterno’s heir apparent, was arrested more than a week ago and is charged with sexually abusing eight boys, some on Penn State property, over a 15-year span.

“I am innocent of those charges,” the 67-year-old Sandusky said. “… I could say that I have done some of those things. I have horsed around with kids. I have showered after workouts. I have hugged them, and I have touched their legs without intent of sexual contact.”

Asked whether he was sexually attracted to underaged boys, he said “Sexually attracted, no. I enjoy young people, I love to be around them, but, no, I’m not sexually attracted to young boys.”

Asked if there was anything he had done wrong, Sandusky said, “I shouldn’t have showered with those kids.”

Athletic director Tim Curley and Penn State vice president Gary Schultz are charged with perjury but maintain their innocence. Paterno and president Graham Spanier were ousted from their jobs for not doing enough after Sandusky was accused of assaulting a young boy in the showers of the campus football complex in 2002. Paterno is not the target of any legal investigation, but he has conceded he should have done more. Spanier, who remains a tenured member of the faculty, has said he would have reported a crime if he’d suspected one had been committed.

The interview with Costas was Sandusky’s first public comment on the charges. He had previously maintained his innocence through his attorney, Joe Amendola.

A spokesman for Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly declined to comment on the interview, citing the active investigation.

Sandusky’s remarks came the same night that Amendola told CNN that his client was just behaving like “a jock.”

“Jerry Sandusky is a big overgrown kid,” Amendola said. “He’s a jock, and for anybody who’s ever played sports, you get showers after you work out.”

Wide receivers coach Mike McQueary told a grand jury that in March 2001 when he was a graduate assistant, he saw Sandusky sodomizing a boy about 10 years old in a shower at the Nittany Lions’ practice center. McQueary did not go to police but instead told Paterno, Curley and Schultz, although it is unclear how detailed a description he gave. Schultz, in turn, notified Spanier.