Jerry Sandusky’s Wife Blames State College Casino Developer for Husband’s Imprisonment
Posted on: November 18, 2024, 08:52h.
Last updated on: November 18, 2024, 04:44h.
The wife of Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State football coach who in 2012 was found guilty on 45 charges related to child molestation, opposes efforts to bring a casino to State College, Pa. She also partly blames the man who’s prepping to build the so-called “mini-casino” at the Nittany Mall for her husband’s imprisonment.
Sandusky served as an assistant football coach at Penn State under legendary College Football Hall of Fame member Joe Paterno for his entire career. Sandusky, a defensive specialist, was pivotal in helping JoePa become the winningest Division 1 college coach in history with 409 wins.
Paterno’s legendary run came to a most shocking end in November 2011 when Sandusky was arrested on child sexual abuse charges. Sandusky hadn’t coached with the program since 1999.
Paterno was subsequently dismissed from the team by the Penn State Board of Trustees and died 74 days later from lung cancer. He was never found guilty of knowing about Sandusky being a serial child molester, but he infamously said, “With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.”
Wife Stands by Husband’s Side
Dottie Sandusky has stood by her husband’s side since 2011 despite her husband, now aged 80, being found guilty of molesting and raping young boys over a 15-year period. Sandusky allegedly used his Second Mile charity, a nonprofit that served underprivileged youth and at-risk children, to meet and recruit his victims.
Mrs. Sandusky believes her husband is innocent and that the Penn State Board of Trustees and former Trustee Ira Lubert, the very man who is behind a $120 million development to bring slot machines, table games, and sports betting to the Nittany Mall, is at least partly responsible for Sandusky spending the rest of his life in prison. Mrs. Sandusky isn’t alone, as some within the Penn State community agree that Sandusky was railroaded by prosecutors and the BOT and that certain victims pounced at the opportunity for a payday. More about the theories on how Sandusky allegedly ended up in prison unjustly can be found here.
Mrs. Sandusky, along with thousands of State College residents, has been a steadfast opponent of a casino in State College near the university’s campus. This weekend, Mrs. Sandusky doubled down on her gambling opposition with a letter to the editor of the Centre Daily Times.
“I am writing to say I do not want the casino. Some will say because of my name I should not have any say. I am a person and have my opinion,” Sandusky began.
I feel a lot of the reason my husband is in prison is because of Mr. Lubert and his friends on the BOT, they did not vet the victims. Mr. Lubert feels he owns State College; he doesn’t. People need to see what a casino will bring into State College, nothing good,” Sandusky continued.
“Mr. Lubert did this at the King of Prussia Mall. He built the casino and then in a few years sold it for big bucks. That is all he cares about, money. He doesn’t care about our town and people. Please stop the casino,” Sandusky ended in referencing Lubert’s earlier investment in the Valley Forge Casino Resort, which Lubert and his co-investors sold to Boyd Gaming in 2018 for $280.5 million.
State College Casino
Lubert secured the rights to build a mini-casino at the Nittany Mall through a competitive bid in September 2020 with a $10 million offer to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB). Lubert qualified to participate because he owns a 3% stake in Rivers Casino Pittsburgh.
Lubert had planned to renovate the former Macy’s department store into a Bally’s-branded casino with the Rhode Island-based gaming company. Bally’s withdrew from the project in September to focus on other endeavors, namely its nearly $2 billion integrated casino resort in Chicago, and possibly, a new casino resort and MLB ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip.
Lubert is pressing on with the State College casino and says he doesn’t need to rely on a third party like Bally’s to bring his vision to reality.
Editor’s Note: Devin O’Connor, the writer of this report, is a 2005 graduate of Penn State University.
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Last Comments ( 10 )
All of Ira Lubert's business partners have very close ties to Penn State University. Shame on each of them for bringing casino chaos to Happy Valley.
The problems with the casino do not depend Jerry Sandusky's guilt or innocence, which is a very important but unrelated question (I'm glad Frank Parlato is investigating). Jerry's wife is a local citizen in good standing and her opinion is as important as anyone's. Perhaps more important than the opinions of those who would risk bringing to our community serious harm through gambling addiction problems and possibly serious crime, considering that cash-intensive businesses like gambling are said to be a favorite for money laundering. The prospect of hard core criminal enterprises operating in our community that might branch out into human trafficking, drug dealing, real estate takeovers, or who knows what, is dreadful. Building a casino does not give me any confidence me that Happy Valley will stay happy!
With all that we've learned since the moral panic and rush to judgement in 2011-2012, it's become exceedingly clear that Jerry Sandusky is innocent and it's not even close. If you think I'm crazy, here's one fact that should make you go, "Hmm...that's odd.": of the six most prominent men whose lives and career prospects were destroyed by the case, the wives of all six have steadfastly stood by their husbands. Meanwhile, of those who testified against Sandusky (all of whom were labeled heroes and most of whom made $millions), many wives and girlfriends have left them and publicly called them liars. Hmm...that's odd. Ira Lubert was in charge of handing out $millions of Penn State liability insurance money after the fact, and was recorded admitting that he thought it was likely that at least some of the claimants were lying for $$$! But he didn't care about the truth, he just wanted the bad PR to go away. Learn more: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-twelve-part-ii-the-settlements/id1562078872?i=1000524940378
Ira Lubert's dream of a successful casino in Happy Valley will crumble when the casino fails financially soon after opening. Penn State college students now enthusiastically gamble online with their phones. Hindsight is 20/20 now and online gambling was unheard of in Pennsylvania over four years ago when Lubert bid for the slot machine license. Successful Penn Staters in Happy Valley will not spend their evenings in front of a slot machine at a local casino in a former Macy's department store in the dying Nittany Mall. Their peer groups, families, and friends will roll their eyes and shake their heads ruefully after hearing of a weekend evening that was wasted in front of a slot machine. Ira Lubert's hopes for success with in-person casino gambling here will fizzle when his casino folds soon after the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Table minimums alone will keep the table games empty all day. Just four hands of blackjack will cost more than filling the gas tank in this buculic college town of State College. Most of those hoped-for casino patrons will drive right past the Nittany Casino as they search for a gas station charging a nickel less per gallon. Once those 401k's are gone, they don't bounce back for more fun times at the casino. You should have rolled those dice elsewhere, Ira.
Mrs. Sandusky has the same opinion as most people in this region. In the words of Mrs. Sandusky: They do not want a casino. It will bring nothing good. Please stop the casino.
Please don't bring a casino to Penn State and State College.
Still sticking by that fiend and child rapist Dottie! Delusional!
Ira Lubert won the bid for the Nittany Mall casino license in State College on 9/2/2020. At that time, the nationwide brick-and-mortar casino leadership had no idea how severely the accelerated expansion of online gambling would negatively impact in-person casino revenue. Happy Valley is exactly in the center of Pennsylvania, far from any urban areas that will support a 24/7 operating schedule. The place will be a ghost town except between 6:00 pm and midnight. By September 2027 the Nittany Mall casino will most likely have been sold to a casino operator with zero connection to Penn State University. Unless of course, Lubert's current business partner on this casino project (Rick Sokolov) takes the reins after Lubert passes the baton to him. Every Penn Stater knows that Rick Sokolov is the newly-elected and current Vice Chairman of the Penn State University Board of Trustees. This was all smoothly accomplished because the University obeyed an unspoken pledge of allegiance to both Ira Lubert and Rick Sokolov. Each of them have generously donated many millions of dollars to their alma mater. That certainly worked really well for everyone involved but that 24/7 operating schedule will still be the first thing to go.
Investigative reporter Frank Parlato has published extensive reporting on numerous problematic issues surrounding Jerry Sandusky's trial and Penn State's response to the abuse claimants. Anyone who cares about Penn State should at least read Frank's reporting and evaluate it for themselves: https://frankreport.com/?s=sandusky
No lady he's in prison cause he's guilty.