On June 22, 2012, a Centre County jury convicted Gerald A. ‘Jerry’ Sandusky of sexually abusing ten preteen and teenage boys. On October 9, 2012, Judge John M. Cleland imposed a sentence of 30 to 60 years imprisonment.
Sandusky, who has been in prison for 11 years, will turn 80 this month.
Aaron Fisher, Victim #1
Born on November 9, 1993, Aaron Fisher testified at Sandusky’s trial when he was 18. He is now 30.
The investigation of Sandusky began in November 2008 and resulted in charges in November 2011. For two years, Aaron Fisher was the only ‘victim’ the state of Pennsylvania had.
Fisher testified Sandusky engaged in mutual fellatio with him over 25 times when he was between the ages of 12 and 14. During the alleged abuse of Fisher, Sandusky was in his 60s.
Millionaire Story
Fisher was rarely able to construct complete sentences to describe what he said happened to him in three grand jury appearances and at trial.
His sworn testimony was accompanied by profuse tears, sobbing, gasping for breath, and an inability to articulate, which was the opposite of the teenager’s persona among his friends and teachers, where he was widely known as a talkative young man, teller of tall tales, a braggart, and in the small town of Lock Haven, PA, pop: 9400, the town liar.
Fisher became a millionaire for his story – through a settlement with Penn State, which once employed Sandusky, and from where Sandusky derived much of his local fame – as one of the most successful defensive coaches of one of the most successful college football teams, the Nittany Lions, under the most successful college coach of all – Joe Paterno.
Sandusky was also highly admired in university-centric Centre County for his founding and active participation in a charity for underprivileged children, the Second Mile, named by Sandusky, a Methodist, after Matthew 5:41:
If Aaron Fisher’s mother, Dawn Renee Daniels Hennessey, had not prompted him, Fisher would not have been an accuser. There would have been no criminal case against Sandusky or civil case against Penn State.
Dawn Hennessey understood at once that what she suspected – that Sandusky abused her son – would set her and her son up for life.
Her instincts about the monetary compensation her son would get were accurate. Penn State settled with Aaron Fisher for $7.5 million in 2013.
In addition to the Penn State money, Fisher received money for a ghostwritten book about his story, written also by his mother and his therapist, Michael Gillum, MA, bearing their names as authors. Their “version” of the story focused in part on Fisher’s recovery of repressed memories of Sandusky’s abuse, entitled “Silent No More; Victim 1’s Fight for Justice Against Jerry Sandusky.”
Fisher’s Childhood
Aaron Fisher never knew his father, who reportedly saw him last when he was one. His mother had at least two more relationships during the boy’s early years, one with a live-in lover for five years, and then a husband, Eric Daniels, who also remained for five years, making the lad 11 when he left. It remains unclear to what extent, if any, Daniels molested Aaron.
After Eric Daniels left, he remarried, and the State of Georgia successfully prosecuted him on 100 counts of child molestation, including the molestation of one of his children.
Dawn, the Mother
After the divorce, Dawn Hennessey was a single mother with three children, each with a different father – one a convicted child molester – living on welfare in subsidized housing.
She was known in the town of Lock Haven as a woman fond of drink and men. Her frequent visits to local bars were subjects of her social media postings, including photographic evidence of her intoxication and the type of undergarments she wore, inviting viewers to observe her at her anatomically most advantageous, as in when viewed from the rear.
Her neighbors reported she would send her children away on weekends so that she could spend time at taverns, where she was reputed to be a great favorite among male patrons who, it is said, viewed her capacious form and strabismus-dominant visage with approbation waxing as the night progressed into early morn.
‘Last call’ often found her as the last woman quaffing, making her, before she became a “Sandusky-millionaire,” queen of the barflies of Clinton County, one whose frothy adventures were said to be exceeded only by her reputed exploits in the tipsy twilight in the backseats of cars for one last drink for the road.
Bedwetter
Her neglected kids, especially Aaron, found themselves at friends’ homes overnight, which much inconvenienced parents, especially those who took in young Aaron, for he was a bedwetter; his stays required either precautionary measures or an extra cycle for the washing machine.
This otherwise personal detail would not be mentioned, except it will be significant later. Although he was a bedwetter before he met Sandusky, Fisher would perjure himself at the trial by claiming Sandusky’s abuse caused his bedwetting.
Aaron Meets Sandusky
The year 2005 – with the lad aged 11, and the mother in need of a father figure for her son, and an unpaid weekend babysitter – brought Second Mile and Jerry Sandusky into their lives.
Fisher met Sandusky during a Second Mile camp, and he took Fisher, age 12, under his wing. He took him to church, where Fisher had never been, to restaurants, swimming at a hotel pool, Eagles football games, and practices at Penn State.
And he took him to his home. When he visited, it wasn’t unusual for 12-year-old Fisher to put his arm around Sandusky or jump in his lap.
“It was clear he hadn’t had a father around,” Sandusky observed.
As many did, Fisher’s mother thought Sandusky was “an angel.”
He was a sports legend, an icon in town. Hennessey thought he “acted like a big kid.”
“I just took him to be a real dumb jock with a heart of gold,” she said.
In his kindness, Sandusky began to take the lonely boy whose mother was occupied on weekends to his home on Saturdays, where he would play pool, shuffleboard, darts, or air hockey in the finished basement and stay overnight. And church in the morning.
Sandusky and his wife, Dottie, had adopted six kids and fostered others. He had expanded this warmth for children through his charity, Second Mile, which had grown to where President George H. W. Bush named it one of his ‘1000 points of light’ in 1990.
Second Mile served more than 100,000 underprivileged children.
Sandusky, a tactile person who grew up in a bygone era, would hug a child or put his hand on their knee while driving, or in young Fisher’s case, kiss him on the forehead at bedtime.
He read the Bible to him and said grace before eating.
Sandusky coached Fisher in athletics, attended his sporting events, and gave him a used computer someone had donated to help him academically.
Young Fisher thrived. He became a track star in school and a good wrestler.
But adolescence set in. Fisher became more interested in girls than hanging out with an old coach who lectured him on homework, not drinking, not using drugs, not having relations with a woman until marriage, and insisted he go to church and volunteer at Second Mile, none of which was remotely as fun as it was when he was younger.
Abused
If Fisher is to be believed, Sandusky sexually abused him at his family home, in between church and reading the Bible, forcing him to give and receive fellatio – time after time.
Fisher never told anyone about it, not his mother or friends.
As Sandusky was supposedly forcing fellatio and being fellated by Fisher, the teen was bragging to his buddies about the girls and women he bedded, girls as young as 13 and older women, and their stupendous reaction to his amorous skills.
Whether he learned these skills from experience, from the excessive porn he watched, or made it up, is unknown.
According to his friends, Fisher would wax poetic about his priapic feats, claiming in time 300 female conquests, whose names he reportedly kept on a list. This, plus his capacity to brag about his abilities as an athlete, especially in the faux war games of paintball, and his claimed herculean strength, sufficient, he said, to defeat any number of grown men in wrestling, earned him the reputation of being Central Mountain High School’s champion liar.
“Aaron would consistently lie and scam,” his history teacher Scott Baker told an investigator.
Another teacher, Ryan Veltri, said, “Aaron was untruthful, conniving, and would blame other kids to save himself.”
Next-door neighbor Joshua Fravel claimed Fisher was “a conniver and always made up stories. He lied about everything. He would say just about anything if it got him what he wanted.”
The Beginning
On a Saturday night, shortly after Fisher’s 15th birthday, he got into a fight with his mother. She wanted him to go with Sandusky. He wanted to go out with his friends.
His mother was insistent.
“You’re not going to fuck up my weekend,” she reportedly said.
Feigning innocence for a teen who spent countless hours secretly viewing porn, Fisher asked his mother what was the website where he could read about people who “did bad things to kids—you know, like people who are sexual weirdos.”
“The sex registry?” his alarmed mother asked. Who did he want to look up?
“I wanted to see if Jerry was on there,” Fisher said.
Hennessey pounced on it. She asked if Sandusky had abused him.
Fisher coyly said, “He’s weird, that’s all.”
There was no question about his mother forcing him to go with Sandusky. Not that night. Not ever.
Fisher went out with his friends, just as he had planned. When he came home, Hennessey asked him again if Sandusky had done anything sexual with him.
Fisher said, “No.”
She pressed.
He said, “Please, let’s not talk about it anymore.”
She went outside for a smoke and saw Josh Dravel, who lived in the adjoining apartment of their public housing duplex.
“I’m gonna own that mother-fucker’s house,” she said, referring to Sandusky.
“I just thought Aaron was saying what he needed to say to get out of going with Jerry,” Fravel said.
The Investigation
Fisher’s mother contacted the Central Mountain High School principal and guidance counselor the following week. On November 19, her son met them. His mother came along.
When Fisher did not describe any sexual conduct by Sandusky, the school officials suggested they go home and consider what actions, if any, they should take next.
Hennessey swore at them. She said she was not going home; she was going to war.
“I was really mad, and I told (Fisher) to get his backpack we’re leaving.”
A Clinton County caseworker interviewed Fisher. And she sent him to Michael Gillum, a psychologist under contract with Clinton County Children and Youth Services.
The Therapist
When he met with Gillum, Fisher again denied Sandusky had abused him.
But Gillum knew better.
“Look, I know something terrible happened to you,” Gillum told Fisher, and spent hours with the boy that first day and after that for days on end and several times weekly for months.
Gillum knew his job was “peeling back the layers of the onion” – of Fisher’s mind – to uncover hidden memories of abuse.
The therapy was simple.
Fisher never had to say how Sandusky abused him. Gillum would guess and describe various scenarios. Fisher had to say “yes” or “no,” or nod.
Fisher later said, “It wasn’t until I was fifteen and started seeing Mike that I realized the horror.”
About his abuse, Fisher explained how he did not remember, though it happened for years and ended only a few months before, he said.
“I managed to lock it deep inside my mind somehow,” said Fisher.
Once Fisher had begun to “recall,” he was ready to be interviewed by the police.
On December 12, 2008, during his first interview with police, he said Sandusky had never touched his genitals. When asked if oral sex occurred, he denied it.
Gillum realized that the police should never question the lad without him, not if they wanted to arrest Sandusky.
Peeling the Onion of the Mind
On March 19, 2009, police officer Timothy Lear interviewed Aaron Fisher for an hour with Gillum by his side.
This time, Fisher nodded ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as Lear asked him questions about abuse.
But they needed verbal answers on the record, and it was hard to keep asking Fisher to state his answers aloud. But he managed to articulate one or two words about Sandusky touching and fondling him.
When it came to discussing more graphic details of oral sex, Fisher refused to utter a sound. The best he could do was nod ‘yes’ or shake his head ‘no.’
Gillum “knew” why Fisher was reticent. Fisher believed Sandusky was going to kill him by hiring a hit man.
But on the surface, Fisher seemed scared of something else. He asked Gillum if Sandusky would go to prison. If so, for how long?
Fisher seemed genuinely worried that something terrible might happen to Sandusky, and after all, he had just wanted to get away from him, not punish him.
Meanwhile, PA Assistant Attorney General Jonelle Eshbach, whose job was to prosecute people so they could be punished, began to work with Gillum.
He was thrilled when he got a call from Eshbach. “Holy crap,” he thought, “this is even bigger than I thought.”
Finally, Gillum’s theories of buried memories revealed by peeling the onion of the mind would hit the big time.
Gillum imagined the headlines of a prosecution of the reputed, saintly Jerry Sandusky, where a feeble-minded patient was brought to recall what he had buried in the unpeeled onion of his mind and how the brilliant Dr. Gillum peeled it with precision and toppled a monster.
Eshbach brought Gillum down from his cloud when she told him his patient needed to come up with actual details of what happened – not merely nod as police tried to guess what happened.
Gillum told her to be patient: “With most child victims of sexual abuse, their information comes in layers.”
Stay tuned for part #2
Other FR Articles on Jerry Sandusky
Questioning Millionaire Victims: Doubts Arise in Sandusky Trial
Changing Memories: The Impact of Repressed Recovered Memories in the Sandusky Case
Did Jerry Sandusky Get a Fair Trial? – The Answer Is ‘No’
John Ziegler Interviews re: Aaron Fisher
Long-time Aaron Fisher Friend Reveals Why He Is Very Confident Fisher Lied About Jerry Sandusky
Friends of Aaron Fisher Say He Lied About His Relationship with Jerry Sandusky
Aaron Fisher’s Neighbor Explains Why He’s Certain Fisher Lied About Jerry Sandusky
Woman Who Organized Rally For Sandusky “Victim” Aaron Fisher No Longer Believes Him
Another Friend of Aaron Fisher Says They Don’t Believe He Was a Sandusky Victim
3rd Close Pal (An Abuse Victim) of Aaron Fisher Says Why He Knows Fisher Lied About Jerry Sandusky
Aaron Fisher’s Neighbor Describes Witnessing the Money Grab Against Jerry Sandusky Begin
Aaron Fisher Posts Odd Facebook Video Which Should Make You Go “Hmmmm…”
Acknowledgments
Several people have been instrumental in uncovering the truth about the Sandusky case, dedicating countless hours to researching, interviewing, and writing about what happened.
- Former chair of English at UC Berkeley and author Dr. Frederick Crews has written numerous articles on the Sandusky case. He is a literary critic and has done extensive research on Freud and recovered memory therapy.
- Filmmaker/podcaster John Ziegler, who created the website framingpaterno.com, has generated scores of podcast interviews and offers in-depth research into the case.
- Investigative reporter Ralph Cipriano has written comprehensive stories for bigtrial.net exposing what mainstream media wouldn’t write about.
- Author Mark Pendergrast wrote the book, The Most Hated Man in America: Jerry Sandusky and the Rush to Judgment, which documents the case, the media hysteria, political landscape, and repressed memory critique.
- John and Patti Galluppi, family friends of the Sandusky’s, created the website Justice for Jerry, which provides documents and breaks down the alleged facts of the case and the stories of the various accusers.
- NCIS, Special Agent John Snedden has investigated and commented on the myriad flaws and anomalies in the case.
The author acknowledges that without the above researchers and writers, who all preceded him in this investigation, he would not have been able to conceivably attempt to investigate the conviction of Jerry Sandusky.
Add Comment