More than ten years after his conviction for sexual assault and grooming, disgraced Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky maintains his innocence, telling DailyMail.com that his accusers were manipulated by investigators and motivated by money, in an explosive new interview.

Sandusky, 80, was found guilty in 2012 of 45 counts of sexual abuse of ten boys he met at his Second Mile charity which allegedly took place over a period of 15 years between 1994 to 2009.

The convicted child molester has not spoken publicly about his charges or appeals since 2013, when he appeared in a documentary about university legend Joe Paterno.

Speaking from Laurel Highlands State Correctional Institution in Pennsylvania, the former defensive coach again insisted that he was innocent of the charges he was convicted of.

‘I never ever in my life ever thought about molesting anybody,’ he told DailyMail.com. 

‘I was accused of heinous crimes, which I’ve never committed. My wife was my only partner in sex and that was after marriage.

The convicted sex offender, pictured during a prison phone call with his wife, revealed he is now seeking a new trial claiming the ‘perjured testimony’ of trial witnesses would not stand up in a courtroom today

‘I was in disbelief in terms of how this happened. Why were they [accuser] saying things that were so inconsistent with what they had said before?

‘I believe I was wrongfully convicted by inconsistent, perjured testimony.’

He maintains his accusers were ‘vulnerable and susceptible’ people who were ‘coached and led’ by law enforcement and two therapists – who he blames for the ‘inconsistent testimony’. 

The former Penn State coach believes that his accusers were ‘incentivized’ by money, adding that ‘nobody came forward on their own’.

Sandusky has broken his silence after his legal team launched his latest bid to get a fresh trial, with the lawyers calling for a new hearing on the validity of repressed memory therapy.

Therapists who use the technique often administer sodium pentothal or hypnotize their clients to try to generate images of alleged abuse which could have happened. They spend months homing in on whether the memory is real or fabricated.

The appeal argues that the original trial jury should have heard more testimony about the technique, which Sandusky believes would not stand up in a courtroom today.

‘We now have evidence that there was repressed memory therapy, and we have an expert who’s willing to testify about how to analyze what happened,’ he explained.

‘Their stories changed. The point is that every last one changed,’ he claims.

In total Penn State paid out $63.1million to victims of Sandusky, with other expenses, settlements and fines associated with the cases are estimated to be around $220million.

Sandusky was a prominent coach in the world of college football and had been the defensive coordinator for Penn State’s Nittany Lions since 1977 

Sandusky retired in 1999 but remained involved with the university and its football team through his children’s charity, the Second Mile 

The 80-year-old, pictured left in his youth, began his coaching career at the university in 1966 as a graduate assistant 

The school settled with eight individuals who testified against Sandusky at his trial, as well as 26 others who later claimed they were abused by the former coach.

Sandusky says that Aaron Fisher, who wrote a book with therapist Mike Gillum, was the key witness for the prosecution after he changed his story following the therapy.

Fisher received a $7.5million payout from Penn State. Sandusky said the millions of dollars won’t bring his accusers happiness.

Sandusky is currently serving a 30 to 60 year prison sentence at Laurel Highlands State Correctional Institution in Somerset, Pennsylvania 

‘I feel that they’ve made some decisions, they had a chance to do it the hard way, making an effort in school, studying, working,’ he told DailyMail.com.

‘They turned that down for an easy road with allegations and to make millions of dollars – that’s not going to bring them happiness.

‘That’s very unfortunate for them. I don’t know that much about how they’re living or whatever. But maybe they ought to think about what they’ve done. And all the people who have been hurt.

Sandusky was also accused of abusing his adopted son Matthew, who filed a lawsuit with Penn State following his father’s conviction, and received $325,000. 

When asked about his son, who is the only one of his six adopted children who is not supporting Sandusky, the 80-year-old said it was ‘crazy’.

Matthew testified in support of his adoptive father twice before his trial, before switching sides during the June in 2012 court hearing. 

Matthew then claimed that his father abused him from the ages of eight to 17. 

Sandusky describes his son as a ‘troubled’ man, who he and his wife ‘enabled and got out of trouble numerous times’, forgiving him when he stole cash and two championship winning rings.

Sandusky (pictured leaving court in handcuffs in 2012) told DailyMail.com that he believes his accusers were ‘incentivized’ by money, adding that ‘nobody came forward on their own’

According to Sandusky, one of his accusers Aaron Fisher (right) became the key witness for the prosecution after he changed his story following therapy. Fisher was handed a $7.5million payout from Penn State. He is pictured posing with loose bills in a Facebook photo 

He added: ‘I made a mistake with [Matthew]. I said something about one of the accusers changing his story, and he asked me why.

‘I told him that I believe it was because [that accuser] went to Andrew Shubin, a civil lawyer,  with problems and then it got twisted, and turned and that changed his whole story. I didn’t really know.

‘I told [Matthew] I was really shocked by it.

‘[Matthew] brought his kids to live with us, he pleaded with the court when I was on house arrest and to have his kids be able to visit.’

Despite allegations made Matthew and his convictions, Sandusky’s wife Dottie has stood by him for the past 12 years.

She visits her husband once a week for three hours and speaks to him daily on the phone as well as scheduled Zoom sessions, travelling for three hours to visit him in prison.

‘It’s only by the grace of God that we can get through what we have,’ she told DailyMail.com. 

‘I know who Jerry is. I never saw anything, and I was here. If Jerry had done these things, I would have told somebody I wouldn’t have stayed with him.

‘He’s that kind of a person. I mean, if he messes up or does something wrong, he’ll tell you he has and he’s sorry.’

Dottie says that their family still love Penn State despite the scandal, with four of the couple’s six children graduating from the college and one grandchild currently studying there. 

Despite his convictions, and the allegations made by their own son Matthew, Sandusky’s wife Dottie has stood by her husband for the past 12 years

Dottie revealed she visits her husband once a week for three hours and speaks to him daily on the phone as well as scheduled Zoom sessions, traveling for three hours to visit him in prison

Sandusky is seen speaking to wife Dottie on the phone in prison in a photo shared exclusively with DailyMail.com 

Sandusky speaks to all five of his adopted children regularly on the phone, with Dottie saying they hope one day to be able to pick him up from prison with the family around them.

‘We’d want to get out and just see the world and see his friends if he was released,’ she said. ‘ I don’t know exactly what we would do, but we haven’t ever spoken about any legal repercussions if his case was dismissed.

‘I don’t like to see people get hurt, we aren’t hateful people. The family has stuck by him because we love him.

‘I know if he had done anything, even if it was the least little bit of something about anything in life, he would tell you. He would not have let that many people be hurt.’

One of Sandusky’s accusers claimed that he spent 100 nights in the basement of their home, alleging that Dottie ignored his screams as he was being assaulted.

She has always denied the claims, saying that the basement isn’t soundproof and if she ever had an inkling her husband had committed these crimes, she wouldn’t have stood by him.

Dottie added: ‘I don’t know how you can’t say that there is something wrong here, when the troopers and all the kids lied. There should at least be a retrial.

‘I can’t understand it and I don’t have any faith any more in this system. I used to, and I used to have faith in the police. But now I don’t know what I’d do if I was really in need of something. It would scare me.’

His wife is not the only person convinced Sandusky is not a child abuser, with former Penn State coach Dick Anderson telling DailyMail.com that Jerry is ‘completely innocent’.

Anderson testified in his trial that Sandusky’s travel schedule made it impossible for him to have committed the crimes, adding that at the time the allegations were made men showering with boys was normal. 

The convicted child molester had not spoken publicly about his charges or appeals since 2013, appearing in a documentary about university legend Joe Paterno (right) who died in the middle of the investigation and scandal

One of Sandusky’s supporters testified in his trial claiming his travel schedule made it impossible for him to have committed the crimes

The college football coach was convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse of dozens of boys he met at his Second Mile charity over a period of 15 years between 1994 to 2009

‘Everybody was in shock when this happened,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘It was mass hysteria. I couldn’t believe it and I obviously still don’t.

‘The Board of Trustees absolutely panicked, because of the nature of the charges. They wanted everything over before the next football season started.’

Anderson described the situation as a ‘political hit job’, with Sandusky’s arrest leading to the firing of Hall of Fame head coach Joe Paterno days later and the ousting of then-university President Graham Spanier.

 He branded Governor Tom Corbett as ‘vindictive’, claiming that he used the situation to get rid of both Paterno and Spanier.

Spanier and two other senior administrators, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, were charged over their response to reports about Sandusky.

Curley and Schultz pleaded guilty to child endangerment in 2017 for failing to notify authorities in 2001 of a complaint about Sandusky and a boy in a team shower.

Spanier went to trial and was convicted of misdemeanor child endangerment, but a federal judge in April threw it out, ruling he had been improperly charged under a 2007 law for actions that occurred in 2001.

A probe into the response to allegations made against Sandusky was launched by Penn State and led by former FBI director Louis Freeh.

Freeh’s report concluded that Schultz, Curley, Spanier and Paterno hid accusations against Sandusky for fear of bad publicity, and the report was cited by the NCAA as it hit the school with a multiyear bowl ban and a $60million fine.

‘Corbett became upset at a game at Penn State that Graham Spanier was paying more attention to his rival in the upcoming election,’ Anderson said.

‘He becamee very jealous at that point and made some statements about bringing Penn State down and firing Paterno and Spanier. Eventually, of course, he put his thumb on the scale.

‘He was the governor at the time, and he had influence, and he influenced the Freeh investigation at Penn State, which had a narrative. They cherry picked the information and other reports were ignored.’ 

Sandusky was handed a sentence of 30 to 60 years in prison in October 2012, and was resentenced in 2019, again to 30 to 60 years in prison

Two other senior administrators at the university, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, were charged after failing to report complaints about Sandusky

Paterno died a few months after his firing and was never charged with a crime in connection with the Sandusky case.

Former assistant coach Mike McQueary, who was a graduate assistant in 2001, testified at Sandusky’s trial that he saw the football coach standing behind a 10-year-old boy in a shower on the Penn State campus.

After reporting the incident to senior staff, the news was relayed through multiple people who allegedly told Sandusky to wear shorts in the shower.

Penn State banned Sandusky from bringing boys onto the main campus after the 2001 incident, but continued to operate a summer camp up until 2008 at one of the college’s satellite campuses.

John Snedden, a former NCIS Special Agent, led a federal probe which looked into the alleged cover up of his behavior by Schultz, Spanier, Curley and Paterno.

Ex-Special Agent Snedden was tasked to investigate if there was a cover up at Penn State including Spanier because ‘he held a top-secret level clearance with a variety of federal law enforcement agencies.’

Speaking to DailyMail.com, Snedden said: ‘The Freeh investigation failed, they didn’t interview Gary Schultz, and didn’t interview Spanier until the very end. 

‘The bottom line is Governor Corbett, a vindictive individual, would stop at nothing to destroy Dr. Spanier and Penn State.

‘As you can see, he worked his way up the chain to Spanier, and Spanier was his prize. 

‘My conclusion based on everybody that I spoke with, everybody I interviewed, is that it was a political hit job by Governor Tom Corbett who had a vendetta against Dr. Graham Spanier and Penn State.’

Former fellow coach  Dick Anderson also believes it was a ‘political hit job’, with Sandusky’s arrest leading to the firing of Hall of Fame head coach Joe Paterno (center) days later and the ousting of then-university President Graham Spanier  (left) 

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier, 73, was released in 2021 after serving less than two months in jail for his alleged coverup of the Sandusky child sex abuse scandal

When asked about Sandusky’s crimes, Snedden added that there was ‘no evidence’ that he ‘ever did anything untoward towards a child or victim’, claiming there was ‘no evidence’ and ‘nothing to corroborate the allegations.’

Sandusky’s appeal is the latest in a long string of appeals to the state Superior court that ruled made last summer that the new evidence was ‘scattershot’ and a variation on themes presented in court.

He is hoping that the latest appeal will win him the right to a new trial, with a hearing set in the case on June 26, though it is unclear how soon a ruling will be made.

‘What I would say to the public is, I would plead with them. Please just look into this case. ‘Everybody is either afraid, and somebody has to come up with the conscience and the courage to look at this case, look at the facts.

‘Look at that information and then make a decision. Because people have been afraid to do that. People don’t want to do that, they’ve invested too much in it.’

His attorneys are also continuing to fight his court ordered restitution, which was originally close to $98,000, and was then lowered a decade after his trial to about $44,000.

Sandusky was handed a sentence of 30 to 60 years in prison in October 2012, and was resentenced in 2019, again to 30 to 60 years in prison.

The resentencing was prompted by a change in the law, with his original sentence based on mandatory sentencing guidelines that were later overturned.