Jerry Sandusky’s Adopted Son Discusses Alleged Sexual Abuse

July 18, 2014

An adopted son of convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky is providing details of the alleged sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his father.

Matt Sandusky, who was initially a foster child of the Sanduskys, tells Oprah Winfrey in a TV show airing Thursday night that his overnight visits with the family as a child were good “except for one part, bedtime.”

At bedtime, he says, Jerry Sandusky’s “ritual began.”

The ritual is not discussed in the brief clip released Wednesday by the Oprah Winfrey Network. The full interview airs Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern.

The network said Sandusky discusses the grooming, methodical control and manipulation he faced as a child. He had also discussed the alleged abuse in a documentary, “Happy Valley,” shown earlier this year.

Matt Sandusky is one of six children adopted by Jerry Sandusky and his wife.

Jerry Sandusky, once Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno’s assistant and heir apparent at Penn State University, was convicted of sexual abuse of 10 other boys but was not charged in his son’s case. He is serving a 30- to 60-year sentence.

Matt Sandusky had been listed as a defense witness at his father’s 2012 trial, but he instead disclosed through lawyers that he had also been abused and didn’t take the stand.

He was placed in foster care with the Sandusky family in January 1995. He was adopted by the family after he turned 18.

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