PHILADELPHIA -
A report commissioned by Penn State says legendary football coach Joe Paterno and top university officials hid what they knew about Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of children.
The report says administrators decided not to turn in Sandusky after talking with Joe Paterno, who died earlier this year, shortly after his firing.
The lead author of the report – former FBI director and federal judge Louis Freeh – said university leaders only seemed concerned with Sandusky himself and the school's image.
READ MORE: Complete Freeh Report On Penn State Scandal
The report, conducted by former FBI director and federal judge Louis Freeh, says the university's leadership "in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity," repeatedly concealed critical facts on Sandusky's abuse of boys.
Just last month, Sandusky was convicted on 45 of 48 charges.
There's no trial date yet for Tim Curley, the former athletic director, and Gary Schultz, the former vice president. They're charged with perjury and failure to report suspected child abuse by Sandusky. A judge on the case held a closed-door, pre-trial conference with Curley and Schultz's attorneys Wednesday.
Former university president Graham Spanier was forced out. He has not been charged in the case, but he's also aggressively criticized in the report.
Paterno, of course, died early this year, shortly after being fired from Penn State.
The long-awaited investigation from university trustees was released at 9 a.m. Thursday ahead of the scheduled 10 a.m. press conference at the Westin Hotel in Center City.
Free said the board of trustees was in the dark about incidents involving Sandusky back in 1998 and 2001 but failed to hold the university's top brass accountable.
"Taking into account the available witness statements and evidence, it is more reasonable to conclude that in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at Penn State University -- Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley -- repeatedly concealed facts relating to Sandusky's child abuse from the authorities , the board of trustees, the Penn state community and the public at large," Freeh said. "Although concern to treat the child abuser humanely was expressly stated, no such sentiments were ever expressed by them for Sandusky's victims."
Freeh talked about the failure of these men to contact police after an assistant coach told them he saw Sandusky molesting a boy in a locker room.
"None of these 4 men took any responsible action after February 2001 other than Mr. Curley informing the Second Mile that Mr. Sandusky had showered with a boy," said Freeh's news release on the report.
Emails from that timeframe between PSU officials were the most important evidence uncovered during the investigation, he added.
The report and an advanced copy of Freeh's remarks were posted online at www.TheFreehReportOnPSU.com, but that website struggled to keep up with demand for much of the hour between their release and the news conference.
FOX 29 News reported according to sources Wednesday that no state officials were provided advanced copies of the report, including former Pennsylvania attorney general and current Gov. Tom Corbett.
The special investigative counsel said it found no evidence to indicate that Sandusky's retirement was related to the police investigation of him in 1998.
The report gave trustees 14 preliminary recommendations for improvement in January, and nearly all have been implemented, Freeh said.
"The release of our report today marks the beginning of a process for Penn State, and not the end," Freeh said.
That's certainly true of the civil court cases, which are coming right behind the criminal trials.
Lawyers for several of Sandusky's victims, including the adopted son he allegedly abused, called the report "absolutely devastating to Penn State," saying it shows the university "made the deliberate and reprehensible decision to conceal (Sandusky's) abuse."
"The report shows that in 1999, Penn State agreed to provide Jerry Sandusky with a retirement package that specifically included Penn State credentials and access that enabled him to continue to groom and sexually abuse boys," said the statement from attorneys Justine Andronici and Andrew Shubin. "Although the Freeh report focuses on isolated incidents of abuse in 1998 and 2001, as the criminal convictions clearly establish, Jerry Sandusky was abusing boys before 1998. We intend to demonstrate that Penn State and The Second Mile were aware of the abuse decades earlier and failed to take action to stop it."
Penn State responded to the Freeh report Thursday afternoon by they admitting failings and saying more changes will be made.
"The board of trustees, as a group that has paramount accountability for overseeing and ensuring the proper functioning and governance of the university, accepts full responsibility for the failures that occurred, "Board of Trustees Chairwoman Karen Peetz told assembled media.
"The board, in cooperation with the administration, will take every action to ensure that an event like this never happens again," she added.
WATCH VIDEO: Penn State's Response To Freeh Report
Paterno's family said, by way of a statement from their lawyers, that the late coach never interfered with any investigation and that he, too, was fooled by Sandusky.
"The idea that any sane, responsible adult would knowingly cover up for a child predator is impossible to accept," the family's statement reads. "The far more realistic conclusion is that many people didn't fully understand what was happening and underestimated or misinterpreted events. Sandusky was a great deceiver. He fooled everyone - law enforcement, his family, coaches, players, neighbors, University officials, and everyone at Second Mile."
You can find a link on our website to the news release with Freeh's remarks about the investigation by clicking right here.
And we've got the complete 267-page report on our website right here.
