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Over the years, the witness said, he never told Sandusky to stop. "It was never talked about, ever," the man said. "It was basically like whatever happened there never really happened." Sometimes the incidents would immediately be followed by a trip to a store, where Sandusky would purchase a gift for him. A self-described college football fan, the man said he enjoyed the access to Penn State football games and facilities. At one point, the man said, Sandusky let him wear the No. 11 uniform of LaVar Arrington, and a photo of him wearing that shirt was shown to jurors. The man testified that Sandusky also took him on trips to bowl games, including the Outback and the Alamo. He gave the boy golf clubs, snowboards, drum sets and various Penn State memorabilia, including a watch from the Orange Bowl, the man testified. He said he would wear gift jerseys to school, and his association with Sandusky was both a point of pride and an object of teasing, causing him to repeatedly deny to peers that Sandusky was abusing him. One letter, shown on a video screen in court, was handwritten on Penn State letterhead and signed "Jerry." It read: "I know that I have made my share of mistakes. However I hope that I will be able to say that I cared. There has been love in my heart." Eventually, as the man got older and acquired a girlfriend, he became "basically sick of what was happening to me" and distanced himself from Sandusky. They had not spoken since 2002 when, in 2010, he brought his girlfriend and 3-year-old son to visit the Sanduskys in what he said was an attempt to convince his girlfriend her suspicions about Sandusky were not true. He said that "backfired" when Sandusky gave him a lot of attention and tried to rub his shoulders. Under cross-examination by Amendola, the man expressed regret for not coming forward earlier, saying: "I feel if I just said something back then ... I feel responsible for what happened to other victims." He said he had spent years "burying this in the back of my head." During his opening statement, Amendola said Sandusky's showering with children was innocuous and part of his upbringing in southwestern Pennsylvania, where his parents ran a rec center. "In Jerry's culture, growing up in his generation, where he grew up, he's going to tell you it was routine for individuals to get showers together," the lawyer said. "I suspect for those of you who might have been in athletics, it's routine." Amendola also said that Mike McQueary, the football team assistant who reported seeing Sandusky naked in a shower with a boy in 2001, was mistaken about what he saw. "We don't think that he lied. What we think is that he saw something and made assumptions," the lawyer told the jury.
Amendola also said that at least six of the alleged victims have civil lawyers, adding: "These young men had a financial interest in this case and pursuing this case." Several of those lawyers were in the court gallery on Monday, observing the trial.
[Associated
Press;
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