Jerry Sandusky took out a $25,000 mortgage on his home last fall as investigators launched a far-reaching child sex abuse investigation against the former Penn State University assistant football coach.

Likening Sandusky's potential financial exposure to that of priests in the Catholic Church scandal, some lawyers say the money was more than likely used to pay his attorney.

"Where else are you going to get the money from?" asked Renee Rockwell, a criminal defense attorney from Atlanta. "What is he going to do? Have a bake sale?"

Sandusky's 2,700-square-foot, five-bedroom, four-bath house in State College sits on an idyllic street behind Lemont Elementary School, with a view of Penn State's 110,000-seat football stadium. The real-estate website Zillow.com estimates Sandusky's home has a market value of $322,900.

The mortgage, dated Nov. 1, 2010, was taken out about eight months before Sandusky's former boss, head coach Joe Paterno, sold his home to his wife in July for $1 — a transaction that Rockwell said could be an effort to protect Paterno's assets from potential civil suits.

Sandusky is charged with sexually abusing at least eight boys over a 15-year period who he met through the Second Mile charity, which he founded in 1977 to help ...

Thousands of young college students in the streets — some tearing down street signs and tipping a news van –  were confronted by riot police and pepper spray before being dispersed late Wednesday evening. Another unruly mass of Occupy Wall Street protesters? No, it was Penn State students protesting the firing of a football coach.

After charges of sexual abuse by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky were filed last Saturday, Penn State’s Board of Trustees met Wednesday evening and announced the immediate firing of head football coach Joe Paterno and President Graham Spanier for their complicit knowledge in the alleged sexual abuse. Following the announcement, thousands of students gathered in support of Paterno — endearingly known as JoePa — to protest the administration’s decision. At some point in the evening, the protest turned into a riot — which is sadly not the first at the so-called #1 party school.

Admittedly, the student protest-turned-riot does not speak for all of Penn State. As is often the case, the physical damage was inflicted by ...

While the grand jury investigation into child sexual abuse at Penn State revealed that university authorities had knowledge of crimes allegedly committed by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, it also showed that others knew, too, and didn't call police.

"There's plenty of responsibility to go around on all fronts," said Pamela Pine, the founder of Stop the Silence, a nonprofit group in Glenn Dale, Md., that calls attention to child abuse. "We should all be kicking ourselves."

Much attention has focused on officials who have in the past week left the university, including head football coach Joe Paterno and president Graham Spanier, who were dismissed by the board of trustees earlier this week, and athletic director Tim Curley and the school's vice president for finance, Gary Schultz, who were indicted for failing to report the alleged crime.

On Friday, the football coach who saw Sandusky allegedly raping a boy in the Penn State locker room shower in 2002 and told Paterno, Mike McQueary, was placed on administrative leave amid a public outcry that he, too, failed to stop the assault or call police. Later, he reportedly told his players that he was no longer their coach and was in protective custody outside State College.

But the grand jury presentment shows that janitors, teachers ...

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, one of the most legendary coaches in U.S. sports history, was fired on Wednesday for his role in allegedly covering up the child sexual abuse of the football team’s former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky. Penn State president Graham Spanier was also fired. In 2002, Paterno reportedly received an eyewitness account from someone who saw Sandusky raping a young boy in a Penn State locker room. While Paterno told his boss, he did not call the police. Others at Penn State knew about a string of other sexual assaults allegedly committed by Sandusky, but the police were never notified. Last week, Sandusky was charged with sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period. During the entire time, Sandusky was running a foundation for troubled kids. The student response to the child rape scandal has surprised many. On Wednesday, students rioted in outrage — not over the school’s role in covering up child rape, but for Paterno’s firing. We speak with political sportswriter Dave Zirin. "What the Penn State students did the other night — rioting, hitting ESPN reporters in the head with rocks, setting fires — and by the way, zero arrests at the end of the night after all the carnage — it stands in stark contrast to the courage of the students occupying their campuses around the country," Zirin says. "It’s really a tale of two generations that we’re seeing playing itself out on these different campuses."

Transcript:

AMY GOODMAN: The shocking child rape scandal unfolding in Pennsylvania continues to unfold. One of the most legendary coaches in U.S. sports ...

Jerry Sandusky, the once famed defensive coordinator who dialed up blitzes at Linebacker U and helped Penn State win a national title in 1986, surrendered to authorities Saturday morning to face child sex abuse charges recommended by a grand jury investigation that found evidence he molested eight boys he met through The Second Mile, the charity he started.

The grand jury investigation also resulted in charges, announced Saturday, against Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, the university’s interim senior vice president for finance and business.

The grand jury found evidence that Curley and Schultz lied during grand jury testimony in Dauphin County in January about information they received about a report of sexual abuse by Sandusky.

Curley and Schultz are charged with perjury, a felony, and failing to report abuse, a summary, and are expected to surrender to authorities at 2 p.m. Monday in Harrisburg.

The charges against Sandusky, 67, came after a two-year investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office into a 2009 report of a sexual assault of a Clinton County boy who was a guest at Sandusky’s College Township home. The grand jury found that Sandusky indecently fondled the boy, performed oral sex on the boy and had the boy perform oral sex on him.

The charges are: seven felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, one felony count of aggravated indecent assault, eight counts of unlawful contact with a minor and felony, eight counts of endangering the welfare of a child, eight counts of corruption of minors, seven counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted indecent assault.

In making public its investigation Saturday, the Attorney General’s Office asks anyone with information about other possible victims to call investigators at 814-863- 1053 or state police at 814-470- 2238.

The grand jury took testimony from university officials including ...