Louis Freeh to lead investigation of child sex scandal at PSU

[LSN80]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/21/justice/pennsylvania-penn-state-scandal/index.html?hpt=ju_c1

The 5th former Director of the FBI, later an assistant United States Attorney and a United States district court judge, will lead an internal investigation into the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State. For those unaware, head football coach Joe Paterno lost his job earlier this month when school officials deemed Paterno hadn't done enough to make sure that the alledged sexual abuse of young boys on campus at the hands of Jerry Sandusky was properly reported to authorities. Now, Freeh will step in to attempt to ascertain the truth regarding who knew what and may have covered things up with regards to Sandusky.

School Trustee Kenneth Frazier, who was selected to chair the committee into a cover-up, said the following regarding the appointment of Freeh:

"No one -- no one -- is above scrutiny, including every member of the administration of the university, every member of our board of trustees, and every employee of the university,"

The special investigation committee is Penn State's response to a grand jury report from earlier this month that university officials allegedly knew of allegations of misconduct on Sandusky's part, but failed to fully act on them.
Freeh said the following regarding his agreeing to take the case:

I extracted pledges of support and non-interference from university officials before taking on the job. I also will select a team of former FBI agents and former federal prosecutors from my law firm to assist. These assurances from the University were the main condition of my engagement.

On top of Sandusky, who has been charged with 67 counts of sexual abuse of eight young boys over several years, two unnamed Penn State officials are also being charged with failure to inform police of the allegations. And now Freeh will step in to attempt to determine who else knew what. But is Freeh the right man for the job?

When Freeh was the Director of the FBI, he oversaw several high-profile investigations, none moreso then the 1993 Waco, Texas siege, which saw the deaths of 76 people all told. Six ATF agents were killed attempting to serve a warrant to the Branch Davidian compound. Upon failure to serve the warrant, the FBI launched a seige upon the occupants of the Branch Davidian compound, resulting in the deaths of over 20 children, several pregnant women, and cult leader David Koresh. Freeh was accused of mishandling the investigation and later being involved in a cover-up of his own regarding the events that lead to the fire that caused most of the deaths.

Thoughts on Freeh leading the investigation? Why do you believe Penn State launched an internal investigation? Any other thoughts?

 

[Mustang Sally]

Although Louis Freeh had his controversies as director of the FBI, especially in the wake of the raid on the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, he's got the background to oversee an investigation like this one, especially since he has no ties to Penn State, which is a vital necessity in this case. As head of the FBI, as a judge and as a lawyer, he's got the tools to do the job. Yes, he was accused of FBI cover-ups and he was nasty to Janet Reno, the Attorney General. What else is new? None of that should affect what he's doing here.

As to why the school would launch an internal investigation, it's the same reason colleges try to head off NCAA witch hunts by convincing the authorities they'll handle violations by themselves: it's an effort to keep outside bodies away from them, lest the outsiders find even more wrong than what they originally came to look for.

Freeh said: "We will immediately report any evidence of criminality to law enforcement authorities."

That's a good thing, because it removes the stigma of the word "internal" from the investigation, which has been ordered by the trustees of Penn State. If Freeh was able only to report his findings to the University, I would think the outside authorities wouldn't be satisfied with the school investigating itself.

I'm always amused when a college puts themselves on probation for sports-related violations in an effort to head off NCAA involvement in their affairs.

I'm less amused when it works.