{"id":274234,"date":"2026-08-28T22:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T22:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/274234\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T22:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T22:44:14","slug":"jerry-sandusky-speaks-from-pennsylvania-prison-ahead-of-court-hearing-i-am-an-innocent-man-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/274234\/","title":{"rendered":"Jerry Sandusky speaks from Pennsylvania prison ahead of court hearing: ‘I am an innocent man’ | EXCLUSIVE"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOMERSET, Pa. (WPVI) — A judge has granted a hearing to explore claims that a man wants to recant allegations of sexual abuse<\/a> years ago by now-former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.<\/a><\/p>\n

Sandusky, 82, has been serving a decades-long prison sentence<\/a> since he was convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse involving multiple boys in 2012. He has repeatedly lost efforts to get a new trial.<\/p>\n

READ MORE | Accuser of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky expected to recant testimony<\/a><\/p>\n

A man identified in court documents as R.R. said he was coached extensively by authorities.<\/p>\n

“I was told — both directly and indirectly — that trauma may have fragmented my memory, and that I could safely affirm details I did not fully recall. I was assured this was common and even expected,” R.R. said in an affidavit filed by Sandusky’s attorneys.<\/p>\n

\"Jerry<\/p>\n

Jerry Sandusky leaves the Centre County Courthouse in custody with Sheriff Denny Nau after being found guilty of multiple charges of child sexual abuse on June 22, 2012<\/p>\n

A court hearing in Centre County has been scheduled for Sept. 8. It is not known whether Sandusky will appear.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Sandusky spoke exclusively with Action News Investigative Reporter Chad Pradelli by phone from state prison in Somerset County.<\/p>\n

“This is the worst experience of my life. I am an innocent man, and I have been convicted by so many people with their own personal agendas, and this was an opportunity to take advantage of a tremendous financial gain,” said Sandusky.<\/p>\n

He said he is obsessed with letting the world know the truth.<\/p>\n

WATCH FULL: Jerry Sandusky speaks from prison ahead of court hearing | EXCLUSIVE<\/p>\n

WATCH FULL: Jerry Sandusky speaks from prison ahead of court hearing | EXCLUSIVE<\/p>\n

Sandusky maintains his innocence and says the door is at least open with his new hearing next month to get a new trial.<\/p>\n

“I want to be home in the worst way, and I want my grandkids to know the truth,” Sandusky said.<\/p>\n

\"IMAGE:<\/p>\n

IMAGE: Jerry Sandusky seen in this photo from 2025 while being held at SCI Laurel Highlands in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Sandusky told Action News that he believes that money was the driving factor in the allegations against him and his conviction on 35 counts of sexual abuse of 10 victims.<\/p>\n

“Money became such a huge motive for everybody, and they incentivized the accusers and led them,” he said. “Without leading, the accusers in the beginning didn’t make allegations.”<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO | Jerry Sandusky resentenced to 30 – 60 years in prison, same as before, in Penn State child sex abuse case<\/a><\/p>\n

New attorneys for Sandusky are expected to argue in a Centre County court next month that Sandusky received ineffective counsel.<\/p>\n

And, more importantly, prosecutors Joe McGettigan and Frank Fina coached the victims into making false allegations.<\/p>\n

An accuser known as Victim 10, who testified for the prosecution at Sandusky’s trial, is now prepared to tell the court Sandusky did not abuse him.<\/p>\n

Court records say the victims’ accusations were the result of “investigative pressure” and ” psychological manipulation.”<\/p>\n

\"Jerry<\/p>\n

Jerry Sandusky leaves the Centre County Courthouse after attending a hearing on his 45-count child sexual abuse conviction, Nov. 22, 2019.<\/p>\n

Gene J. Puskar\/AP<\/p>\n

“I believe 100% he is innocent and I didn’t begin that way,” said Frank Parlato, an investigative journalist who’s been immersed in the case for three years and is producing a documentary on the trial.<\/p>\n

He too is expected to testify, as well as the mother of another victim.<\/p>\n

“Her son was coached from a position of ‘Jerry didn’t do anything to me’ to ‘Jerry molested me’ by the same prosecutors,” Parlato said.<\/p>\n

Sandusky’s victims were all connected to his charity for troubled youth called The Second Mile.<\/p>\n

“Each of them had issues,” Sandusky said. “Each one of them were in our program because of issues.”<\/p>\n

But a jury believed them and a judge sentenced Sandusky to 30 to 60 years.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office released a statement saying, “The defense will be requesting a new trial during these proceedings, based primarily on a highly suspect recantation that was offered by the defense.”<\/p>\n

“Did you molest any of these children that accused you in court or any others?” asked Pradelli. “No,” Sandusky replied.<\/p>\n

McGettigan has since passed away.<\/p>\n

The Action News Investigative Team reached out to Frank Fina for comment, but our phone calls and emails were unreturned.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOMERSET, Pa. (WPVI) — A judge has granted a hearing to explore claims that a man wants to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[115293,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-274234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-115293","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}