HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — An adopted son of convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky is providing details of
the alleged sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his father.
Matt Sandusky, who was initially a foster child of the Sanduskys, tells Oprah Winfrey in a TV show airing
Thursday night that his overnight visits with the family as a child were good “except for one part,
bedtime.”
At bedtime in the Sandusky’s home in State College, he said, Jerry Sandusky’s “ritual began.”
“The overnight visits were — they were good. I mean, except for that one part, bedtime. Bedtime was the
bad part. But any other time that we were in the home, that we were doing anything in the home with the
family, it was fine and it was — again, you would look at that family and you would say, wow. Like I
wish that I had brothers and sisters that cared about me. I wish that I had a mother who cooked dinner
every night for the whole family. I wish that I had all of these things. But then at bedtime, his ritual
began,” Matt Sandusky told Winfrey in a brief clip released by the network.
The network said Sandusky discusses the grooming, methodical control and manipulation he faced as a
child.
He had also discussed the alleged abuse in a documentary, “Happy Valley,” shown earlier this year, and in
an audiotape of a 29-minute interview with police detectives that NBC obtained at the time of Jerry
Sandusky’s 2012 trial.
Matt Sandusky told investigators Jerry Sandusky had rubbed along or against his genitals. He said then
that he did not recall any penetration or oral sex, and that memories were coming back to him.
He said he was coming forward at that time because he had told a different story to an investigative
grand jury and wanted to correct the record.
“So that they can really have closure and see what the truth actually is. And just to right the wrong,
honestly, of going to the grand jury and lying,” Matt Sandusky said two years ago. He was not called to
testify, and Jerry Sandusky has not been charged with any crime in relation to his adopted son.
Matt Sandusky is one of six children adopted by Jerry Sandusky and his wife.
Jerry Sandusky, once Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno’s assistant and heir apparent at Penn State
University, was convicted of sexual abuse of 10 other boys. He is serving a 30- to 60-year sentence.
Matt Sandusky is among those who have claimed abuse at Sandusky’s hands who have been paid civil
settlements by Penn State.
He was placed in foster care with the Sandusky family in January 1995. He was adopted by the family after
he turned 18.