PHILADELPHIA — Former FBI Director Louis Freeh, tapped to lead Penn State’s investigation into the child sex-abuse allegations against a former assistant football coach, said his inquiry will go as far back as 1975, a much longer period than a grand-jury report issued this month.
Freeh was named Monday to oversee the university board of trustees’ internal investigation into the abuse allegations that led to the ouster of longtime football coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier.
Freeh said his goal was to conduct a comprehensive, fair and quick review. His team of former FBI agents, federal prosecutors and others has already begun the process of reading the grand-jury report and looking at records.
“We will immediately report any evidence of criminality to law enforcement authorities,” said Freeh, who has no direct connection to Penn State.
Penn State has faced criticism since announcing that its internal investigation would be led by two university trustees, Merck pharmaceutical-company chief executive Kenneth Frazier and state Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis.
In announcing Freeh’s appointment, Frazier stressed the former FBI director’s independence. Freeh will be empowered to investigate employees up to and including the board of trustees itself, Frazier said.
“No one is above scrutiny,” Frazier said. “He has complete rein to follow any lead, to look into every corner of the university to get to the bottom of what happened and then to make recommendations that will help ensure that it never happens again.”
Freeh said he had been assured there would be “no favoritism.” He called that assurance “the main condition of my engagement.”
Former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is accused of molesting eight boys over a 15-year period beginning in the mid-1990s. Authorities say some assaults happened on campus and were reported to administrators but not to police.
