By Mike Dawson, McClatchy Newspapers –
BELLEFONTE, Pa. — The mother of the teenager who sobbed as he testified last week about being abused by Jerry Sandusky was called to the stand herself on Tuesday, testifying she never said anything about making money from a lawsuit.
But a few minutes later, a male neighbor of hers got on the stand and said the exact opposite.
While the task of figuring out who is telling the truth will be the jury’s, the issue that defense attorney Joe Amendola raised is something he has been saying for months. He thinks the accusers in the case want to make money from a civil lawsuit and that’s why they’ve hired civil attorneys to represent them.
The 18-year-old testified last week that Sandusky abused him over several years, including forcing him into oral sex. He seemed in agony during his testimony, crying and shooting a death stare at Sandusky while recounting one of the first times of alleged abuse.
The mother of alleged victim No. 1 testified briefly, denying that she ever made comments about wanting a big house or that she’d be wealthy after the case is over.
But Josh Fravel, the neighbor, testified after her and recalled an argument between the woman and her son during which she told him (Fravel) Sandusky had inappropriately touched her son.
Fravel said the mother would send her children away to clear her responsibilities for the weekend, and on this particular day in late 2008, she wanted her son to go with Sandusky for the weekend.
But he wanted to hang out with his friends, Fravel said.
Fravel said he remembered the mother saying to her son: “You’re going to Second Mile because you’re not going to (expletive) up my weekend.”
The argument moved inside, Fravel testified, but the mother came back outside and asked him how she could find a list of sexual offenders, saying Sandusky touched her son and she wanted to look into it.
“I believe her comment was, ‘I’ll own his house,’ ” Fravel said.
When asked by Amendola if Fravel heard the teenager speak of financial gain, he said he heard the teenager say, ” ‘When this is over, I’ll have a nice new Jeep.’ ”
There appears to be bad blood between Fravel and the mother, both of whom lived in a public housing complex in Lock Haven, Pa.
The mother told prosecutor Joseph E. McGettigan on cross-examination that Fravel gave out her address to the media and then tried to get money from her to keep her address secret. The New York Times interviewed Fravel in November and didn’t think his comments would be used in the story, he testified.
When Fravel testified, he said he doesn’t like the woman and thinks she’s a bad mother.
While those two witnesses were the only two directly related to the charges associated with alleged victim No. 1, Dottie Sandusky briefly mentioned this teenager when she testified later Tuesday.
Dottie Sandusky said he stayed over at her house and called the teen “clingy,” and said he “never looked people in the eyes.”
