Sandusky's wife responds to allegations
03:32 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

NEW: Penn State provides details on Center for the Protection of Children

The wife of Jerry Sandusky calls the accusations against her husband "absolutely untrue"

Attorney for one alleged victim calls Dottie Sandusky's statement "sad"

He faces 12 new counts related to a child sex scandal

CNN  — 

Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky’s wife, Dottie, told CNN that she is angry about accusations of child sexual abuse occurring in her home, calling them “absolutely untrue.”

“No child who ever visited our home was ever forced to stay in our basement and fed there,” she said. “We would never do anything to hurt them.”

Her husband faces more than 50 charges surrounding a child sex abuse scandal that allegedly spanned more than 15 years.

“We don’t know why these young men have made these false accusations, but we want everyone to know they are untrue,” she added.

An alleged victim testified that he made overnight visits to Sandusky’s home as a boy and stayed in a basement bedroom. While there, he described a pattern of sexual assaults over a period of several years, according to the grand jury report.

“The victim testified that on at least one occasion he screamed for help, knowing that Sandusky’s wife was upstairs, but no one ever came to help him,” the report states.

Responding to the allegations, Dottie Sandusky said she was “shocked and dismayed” by the alleged victim’s testimony, calling his accusations false.

“I continue to believe in Jerry’s innocence and all the good things he has done,” she added.

The former defensive coordinator posted $250,000 bail and left jail on Thursday, one day after he was arrested on 12 new counts of abuse involving two new alleged victims, raising the total number of victims to 10.

Sandusky was then driven in a three-vehicle motorcade from the jail to his State College, Pennsylvania, home.

Authorities say he is currently under house arrest and must wear an electronic monitoring device. He’ll also be restricted from contacting the alleged victims, possible witnesses, and must be supervised during any interactions with minors.

“As in many of the other cases identified to date, the contact with Sandusky allegedly fit a pattern of ‘grooming’ victims,” said Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly. “Beginning with outings to football games and gifts; they later included physical contact that escalated to sexual assaults.”

A grand jury report made public last month detailed 40 charges of rape and molestation against the former coach in a child sex abuse scandal that, at the time, involved eight alleged victims.

The lawyer for a 29-year-old man who is suing the school, Sandusky and Second Mile criticized Dottie Sandusky’s statement.

“It really is a sad, clear demonstration of how sick she is because of how sick he is,” said Jeff Anderson, who represents an accuser identified as “John Doe A.” The Sanduskys both “in their own way deny what we all know to be and what has been revealed daily.”

Anderson’s client was not cited in the initial grand jury report. The plaintiff, who Anderson said was 10 years old when he first met Sandusky, alleged the former coach sexually abused him dozens of times over several years during the 1990s, the lawyer said.

“The idea that 11 men (10 from grand jury reports plus ‘John Doe A’) who have nothing to do with each other have fabricated this many stories of abuse is beyond rational,” said Anderson’s co-counsel, Marci Hamilton. “Victims rarely make up being sexually assaulted and abused.”

“John Doe A” is cooperating with authorities, his lawyers said.

Sandusky, who maintains his innocence, will face a preliminary hearing at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, where his alleged victims are set to testify. It is expected to be the first time the former coach will face them in court.

The new accusers – identified by authorities as Victim 9 and Victim 10 – are believed to have encountered Sandusky at The Second Mile charity, a nonprofit organization he founded for underprivileged children.

Victim 9 was between 11 and 12 years old when he first met the former coach in 2004. Sandusky allegedly gave the boy gifts and money, and took him to university football games, according to the grand jury report.

Sandusky allegedly met Victim 10, then about age 10, in 1997 after a counselor recommended the boy attend the charity “because of difficulties in his home life.” That witness said Sandusky performed oral sex on him and indecently touched him in an outdoor pool on campus.

Penn State, meanwhile, said Thursday it has created the Center for the Protection of Children for “the study, research, prevention and treatment of child abuse.” A portion of the funding will come from football bowl game revenues.

“We are opting to put our expertise and research power to work confronting the problem of abuse,” said Penn State President Rodney Erickson in a statement.

The university recently partnered with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center with a commitment of $1.5 million.

CNN’s Kathleen Johnston, Laura Dolan, Ross Levitt and Susan Candiotti, and journalist Sara Ganim contributed to this report