According to the records in the Centre County Register of Deeds, Jerry Sandusky and his wife, Dorothy, took out an open-ended mortgage and security agreement on his State College residence for 25,000 in November of 2010. Attorneys and financial advisors say this is a common practice for those who need money for a legal retainer.
Attorneys contacted by CSNPhilly.com speculate that Sandusky was preparing for his defense with the retainer as early as Nov. 2010.
The filing for the open-ended mortgage comes a little more than a month after Sandusky stepped down from his day-to-day involvement with The Second Mile, the charity for at-risk children he founded in 1977.
The 25,000 open-ended mortgage filing also came months after then Pennsylvania attorney general Tom Corbett opened a sexual abuse investigation against Sandusky and a month before head football coach Joe Paterno and assistant coach Mike McQueary testified for the grand jury in the investigation.
On Monday, The New York Times reported that Paterno transferred the deed of his home to his wife, Sue, for 1 in July of 2011. Experts say Paterno transferred the deed into a qualified personal residence trust as a way of avoiding estate taxes.
Sanduskys State College home was built in 1984, according to court records. The home has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a full basement in its approximately 2,776 square feet. The average list price for similar homes for sale is 302,062.
Sandusky has been charged on 40 counts for allegedly sexually abusing eight young male victims between the years of 19942008. According to the grand jury report, some of the alleged incidents occurred in the Sandusky home. The fallout from the charges has led to the firing of Paterno and the resignation of university president, Graham Spanier.
Additionally, McQueary has been placed on indefinite administrative leave.
Aside from the taxes on the sale of a family home, Sanduskys filings with the Centre County Recorder of Deeds are non-existent for two decades until the open-ended mortgage claim in Nov. 2010 for 25,000.
Here are more of Wednesday's headlines from the Penn State scandal.