By Mike Dawson, McClatchy Newspapers –
BELLEFONTE, Pa. — A Penn State janitor didn’t know who Jerry Sandusky was, but he was sure about one thing: He told his fellow janitors that he saw the man sexually abusing a young boy in a shower one night in November 2001.
That was the testimony Wednesday from Ron Petrosky, one of those fellow janitors who didn’t see the incident but was told about it by co-worker James Calhoun. In the grand jury’s presentment, this incident refers to alleged victim No. 8.
Calhoun can’t testify for medical reasons, prosecutors have said, and the sufficiency of the evidence surrounding this alleged abuse was the subject of pretrial motions by the defense to have the charges dropped.
Senior Judge John Cleland allowed the testimony from Petrosky on Wednesday, saying that even though Calhoun’s telling his co-workers about the incident is considered hearsay, a pattern of similar alleged conduct in showers had emerged and the jury could decide.
On the stand, Petrosky testified he had gone into one of the locker rooms at the Lasch Building on the Penn State campus to start cleaning. He said he heard the showers running — something that wasn’t all that uncommon, he said, because players might leave them on.
Petrosky said he saw two sets of legs — one hairy and one skinny — in the shower, with the upper parts of their bodies covered by a curtain. Petrosky said he walked away, deciding to wait until whoever was inside was finished showering.
No one came in while he was waiting, he testified, and a few minutes later, he saw Sandusky leave the shower area with a young boy.
Sandusky and the boy had wet hair, were carrying gym bags and, toward the end of the hallway, Petrosky said, Sandusky held the boy’s hand and they disappeared through a set of doors.
The next thing Petrosky knew, he told the jury, Calhoun came up to him.
“I could see he was upset,” Petrosky said. “His face was white and his hands were trembling.”
Petrosky testified that what Calhoun told him sticks with him today:
“The man that just left, he had this boy against the shower wall licking on (the boy’s) privates,” Petrosky said Calhoun told him.
Petrosky said Calhoun didn’t recognize Sandusky, but Petrosky knew of him and had seen the former defensive coordinator around the Lasch Building with young children before.
“He didn’t know who (Sandusky) was but he knew what he seen that night,” Petrosky said.
Calhoun next told other janitors what he had seen, and remained upset. The janitors thought Calhoun might have a heart attack, Petrosky said.
Petrosky testified that he saw Sandusky twice more that night over the course of his work shift — the first time when Sandusky was outside driving slowly sometime after 10 p.m., and another when Petrosky took out the garbage between 2 and 2:30 a.m.
Defense attorney Joe Amendola questioned Petrosky about his grand jury testimony in which he said he didn’t say that one of the sets of legs he saw while walking into the shower area was hairy.
Petrosky said he called authorities after seeing a story published in the McClatchy Newspapers about an incident involving Sandusky.
