Jerry Sandusky The Jailhouse Lawyer Targets Andrew Shubin

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

In a motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence, Jerry Sandusky, acting as his own jailhouse lawyer, accuses attorney Andrew Shubin of using the quack science of recovered memory therapy to manufacture tainted testimony against him by alleging sex abuse that never really happened.

When the Penn State sex abuse scandal hit, "Shubin went into action advertising for and identifying accusers," Sandusky writes in an affidavit accompanying his motion for a new trial. "He [Shubin] collaborated with therapist Cynthia McNabb to create a group contagion."

"In the words of some of their clients, buried memories were retrieved," Sandusky wrote. "Seeds of incrimination were planted in the minds of susceptible individuals, as revealed in the newly discovered evidence, and tainted, unreliable testimony was created."

On his website, Shubin, of State College, who did not respond to a request for comment, brags that he led "the charge to hold Penn State accountable for its role in the devastating sexual abuse of young boys."

In the process, Shubin hit the lottery for both his clients and himself, racking up more than $32 million in civil settlements for six alleged victims of abuse. Four of the six alleged victims represented by Shubin initially claimed that Sandusky had never abused them. And then, the four alleged victims underwent recovered memory therapy. 

Through the use of highly suggestive and leading questions, Sandusky charges, the alleged victims supposedly recovered hidden memories of abuse that in the criminal courts, helped convict Sandusky; and in the civil courts enabled the alleged victims to cash in.

After they changed their stories, Jason Simcisko collected $7.25 million; Dustin Struble, $3.25 million; Frankie Probst, $9 million; and Matt Sandusky, Sandusky's adopted son, $325,000. A fifth alleged victim, Alan Myers, allegedly the infamous "boy in the showers," initially insisted to a private investigator that Sandusky had never abused him and even wrote a letter to a local newspaper, defending Sandusky. But after he retained Shubin and flipped on Sandusky, Myers collected $6.9 million.

The sixth alleged victim represented by Shubin was Ryan Rittmeyer, a convicted criminal with 17 arrests who served nearly three years in jail for offenses that included reckless endangerment, theft by deception and false impression, robbery, assault, and illegal possession of a firearm. 

Rittmeyer got his case rolling by calling in on a special sex abuse hot line set up by the state Attorney General's office, and, with Shubin as his lawyer, he cashed in to the tune of $5.5 million.

Jailhouse Lawyer

Sandusky has previously been represented on appeal by lawyers Alexander Lindsay of Butler, PA, and Philip Lauer of Easton, and more recently, E. J. Rymsza of Williamsport. But after a decade of unsuccessful appeals, Sandusky is still in prison and running out of legal options. In calls to this reporter from prison, the former defensive coach at "Linebacker U" has openly expressed frustration with his lawyers for not being aggressive enough.  

As a result, at the State Correctional Institute at Laurel Highlands, Sandusky has taken to writing his own briefs and affidavits, which are signed only by him. In his motion for a new trial, filed last week in the Centre County Court of Common Pleas, Sandusky cited as newly discovered evidence a Jan. 15, 2018 interview conducted by Shubin with the late Shawn Sinisi.

Sinisi, who died of a drug overdose in 2018, is currently the subject of a current and highly bogus podcast, "The Mayor of Maple Avenue," hosted by Sara Ganim. She's the useful idiot of a reporter who, during the Penn State scandal, functioned as the press agent for corrupt prosecutors in the state attorney general's office. The bad actors that Ganim carried water for included former deputy attorney general Frank Fina, who had his law license suspended because of his unconstitutional acts against other defendants in this very same case.

In his motion for a new trial, Sandusky requests an evidentiary hearing where he can present the "expert testimony of licensed psychologist Christopher Barden Ph.D on the taint issue." Besides being a licensed psychologist, Barden, of Plymouth, Minn., is also a scientist, attorney, and as an expert witness has testified in multiple malpractice lawsuits against therapists who practiced recovered memory therapy.

Every alleged victim in the Sandusky case drastically changed their stories, which were never vetted by anyone at Penn State. But in this newest case, the Sinisi family might have set a new standard by proving that when it comes to allegations of sex abuse, you don't even have to still be alive to be able to collect from the rollover specialists at Penn State. 

'A Good Man'

On March 30, 2011, Ganim, then working for the Patriot-News of Harrisburg, ignited the entire Penn State sex abuse scandal by publishing a story that disclosed, by virtue of an illegal grand jury leak, that the state attorney general's office had launched a secret investigation of Sandusky for allegedly being a serial sexual abuser of children. 

Two months later, on May 27, 2011, Agent Anthony Sassano of the state attorney general's office went to see Shawn Sinisi, then 19, who told the agent that he and his older brother Josh had attended the Second Mile summer camps annually between 2004 and 2007, and had also stayed overnight at Sandusky's home seven or eight times.

"He [Shawn Sinisi] indicated he never felt uncomfortable around Sandusky and would tell me if anything inappropriate had occurred," Sassano wrote. "Shawn indicated he believes Sandusky is a great role model as he helps people in need."

Sassano also interviewed Shawn's older brother, Josh, who stated that he didn't believe the allegations against Sandusky were true. "He indicated that Sandusky is a very generous and most positive person who helps people [kids] with problems," Sassano wrote. "He indicated to this day, he has occasional contact with Sandusky via phone and considers him a friend.". 

On May 9, 2012, when the state attorney general's office was getting ready to prosecute Sandusky at trial, Sassano returned to visit Josh Sinisi again to see if he would tell a different story, as did so many of Sandusky's accusers after they had initially said they weren't abused.

But Josh Sinisi didn't change his story. When he stayed over at Sandusky's house, Josh Sinisi told Sassano, he brought his girlfriend along, as well as his brother, Shawn. 

"He [Josh Sinisi] aways felt very comfortable with Jerry Sandusky and also brought a lot of his cousins with him to go to games and hang out at the Sanduskys' house," Sassano wrote.

"He stated that after staying at Sandusky's house many, many times, he knows that Sandusky would have had ample opportunity to abuse him if he was so inclined to do so," Sassano wrote. But, "He [Sandusky] never once tried anything out of line with Sinisi," Sassano wrote. 

Instead, Josh "Sinisi stated that Sandusky is kind of a grandfatherly, huggy type of guy and genuinely tries to encourage kids with his enthusiasm. His hugging and caring for the kids is never sexual at all."

Josh Sinisi told Sassano "that he does not believe that these allegations are true and feels that this might be some attempt by these kids to get money from Penn State and Jerry Sandusky."

During the Penn State sex abuse scandal, the Sinisis didn't change their story, and continued to publicly defend Sandusky.

On Nov. 6, 2011, after Ganim's bombshell on the illegally leaked grand jury report, Marianne Sinisi was quoted on  statecollege.com as saying about the charges against Sandusky, "I don't believe it. I think he is a good man, and they are railroading him."

In that same story, Josh Sinisi added, "I don't think it is true at all . . . I just went to a Penn State game with him a few weeks ago . . . I think it is ridiculous. I don't believe the charges are true at all."

Josh Sinisi told statecollege.com that he spent a lot of time with Sandusky. "He had the opportunity to do things with me and my brother," he said, but it never happened.

Enter Andrew Shubin 

But in 2019, a year after her son overdosed, Marianne Sinisi filed a civil law suit on behalf of her late son's estate against Sandusky, the 2nd Mile and Penn State. In the lawsuit, Shubin charged that Sandusky molested Shawn Sinisi between 2000 and 2002, and was responsible for Shawn Sinisi's death.

In his motion for  a new trial, Sandusky wrote, "After six years of numerous opportunities to make allegations, which he didn't make, Shubin asked [Shawn Sinisi] what he remembered about showering with Sandusky."

"Sinisi's response: "He groped me a couple different times in the shower."

After Shubin asked what he meant by that, Sinisi allegedly responded, "like grab my penis."

According to Sandusky, Shubin asked, "Did he masturbate you," and Sinisi allegedly replied, "He tried to. I like pulled away, then he just stopped."

"Shubin's interview technique is highly suggestive and tainted the memory of Sinisi and caused him to recall events that never took place," Sandusky wrote. 

"The new evidence obtained in discovery in the civil case is relevant in this matter because it demonstrated the techniques used by Shubin to influence the testimony of Sinisi and other young males, who, like Sinisi, had previously given statements that denied any wrongdoing on Sandusky's part, but had later made accusations against Sandusky and, in some cases, testified against him in his criminal case," Sandusky wrote.

In his motion for a new trial, Sandusky states that he wasn't served with Sinisi's complaint until last year.

Last November, on the tenth anniversary of the Penn State sex abuse scandal, Ganim's new podcast asserted that Shawn Sinsisi was the first alleged victim of Sandusky's to die as a result of the alleged abuse. 

"In so many ways, Shawn Sinisi was a textbook abuse victim: he was ashamed, confused, angry, unable to admit or discuss what had happened," Ganim said on the podcast. "He was a child who seemingly overnight went from a happy go lucky and outgoing kid to a quiet, distant, and then troubled young man."

"He began to escape his pain and bury his memories of abuse with drugs and alcohol," Ganim said. "He became an addict. And when his addiction led him down a darker path, he was given yet another label: criminal."

'A Troubled Young Man'

In his affidavit, Sandusky wrote that "Shawn never worked out nor showered with me," and that he "never groped or masturbated him."

Sandusky also said that he was always clothed in his dealings with Shawn Sinisi.

"At times, I would roughhouse [wrestle but not seriously] with them, hugging them, and telling them I loved them [because to me they were part of my extended family]," Sandusky wrote. "These acts were not sexual in nature."

In his affidavit, Sandusky stated that Shawn Sinisi was a troubled kid who suffered from "pain and anxiety," and expressed numerous reasons for turning to drugs. 

In 7th grade, at age 13, Sandusky wrote, Shawn Sinisi told him he had found a friend's father dead who had been like a second father to him. After a drinking party, Sandusky wrote, Shawn's best friend died in Shawn's presence after being involed in a car accident, and "Shawn blamed himself."

A year later, Sandusky wrote, another good friend died instantly in another car accident.

 "I have had so many fucked up things happen to me at such a young age," Sandusky recalled Shawn telling him. 

"Just before going to jail in December 2012, one of [Shawn's] other best friends died of an overdose Shawn blamed himself for starting him on drugs," Sandusky wrote. 

In 2013, at age 21, Shawn was accused of raping a female acquaintance.  "He was shocked, hurt, and under much stress, leading to heavy drug use," Sandusky wrote. Shawn was also grieving the deaths of his grandmother and grandfather.

According to Sandusky, Shawn Sinisi was "a troubled young man with a propensity to fabricate stories" who was led astray by his "relationship with an ambitious therapist, who was trying to make a name for himself."

Penn State Rolls Over

In the Sinisi case, Penn State, according to a knowledgable source, has agreed in principle to pay the Sinisi family, but hasn't parted with any cash yet.

This is what Penn State did with 36 of Sandusky's 41 accusers. The university's trustees have previously paid out a total of $118 million to 36 accusers, an average of $3.3 million each, without deploying any of the usual methods to vet their stories, such as having the alleged victims questioned by private investigators, deposed by lawyers, personally examined by forensic psychiatrists, or subjected to polygraph tests.

Instead, Penn State just rolled over and wrote checks. 

In 2013, the extravagant payouts prompted the university’s insurance carrier, the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association Insurance Company [PMA], to sue Penn State and the various “John Doe” claimants. 

“It appears as though Penn State made little effort, if any, to verify the credibility of the claims of the individuals,” Eric Anderson, a Pittsburgh lawyer who was an expert witness in the case, wrote on October 5, 2015.

In his report, Anderson decried “the absence of documentation” in the claims, saying in many cases there was “no signed affidavit, statement or other means of personal verification of the information which I reviewed."

“I do not know why so many of the cases were settled for such high sums of money,” Anderson wrote. 

The lawsuit ended in 2016 with a confidential settlement.

The False Accuser

In his motion for a new trial, Sandusky discloses as his second piece of newly discovered evidence statements made by A.J. Dillen on the 14th episode of John Ziegler's podcast, "With the Benefit of Hindsight."

In 2014, A.J. Dillen, a 31-year-old former Second Miler who didn’t believe any of the alleged victims were telling the truth, purposely made up a ridiculous story -- he’d been raped by Sandusky in a park behind Joe Paterno’s house -- and then Dillen decided to see how far he could get with it. 

He got pretty far.

Dillen went to see Shubin, who took him in as a client. But according to Dillen, who recorded his private meetings with Shubin on his cell phone, the lawyer radically altered Dillen’s original story to make it more compatible with a possible Penn State settlement. Then, Shubin referred Dillen to a therapist who sent him to a psychotherapist, who certified Dillen as having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Finally, after more than three years of legal counsel and about 100 paid therapy sessions, Shubin informed Dillen that he couldn’t pursue his claim because it was past the statute of limitations. Shubin  referred Dillen to the state attorney general’s office, where Dillen could file a possible criminal complaint against Sandusky, which, if successful, might have cleared the way for Dillen to get paid in a civil claim.

But rather than go any further with the charade, Dillen decided to out himself. He never wanted money, he just wanted to prove a point. As Dillen told myself and John Ziegler in 2017, “Hopefully, people will start to realize that this whole case stinks.”

In his affidavit, Sandusky writes that "in recorded meetings with Dillen, Shubin 'corrected' Dillen's version of his encounters with Sandusky, to substantially enhance their settlement value by, for example, moving the location of events to Penn State, from a public park."

On Ziegler's podcast, Sandusky wrote, Dillen stated his reaction to what Shubin did was shock.

"I am immediately thinking this entire thing is BS," Dillen stated on the podcast, according to Sandusky's motion for a new trial. "I came as a fake accuser, and he [Shubin] has changed my story. What makes me think he didn't do this with everyone?"

An Open Doorway

In his motion for a new trial, Sandusky writes that initially, Shubin clients Jason Simcisko and Dustin Struble "told the OAG and state police investigators that Sandusky had never molested them but gave very different testimony at trial."

On July 19, 2011, Jason Simcisko told police that Sandusky never did anything inappropriate to him, and "I don't believe any of this stuff is true and hope he is found not guilty," Sandusky wrote.

But "after six meetings with Shubin and therapy with McNabb," Sandusky wrote, Simcisko changed his story to testify in court that Sandusky "touched his penis, washed his butt, and kissed his shoulders."

In 2004, Dustin Struble wrote on an application for financial aide in 2004, "Jerry Sandusky, he has helped me understand so much about myself. He is such a kind and caring gentleman, and I will never forget him.

But after Shubin and therapist McNabb met with Struble some 10 to 15 times, Struble claimed that through counseling, he recalled instances of inappropriate touching.

"That doorway that was closed, has since been opening more," Struble testified at Sandusky's criminal trial. "Through counseling and different things I can remember a lot more detail that I had pushed aside then."

Another alleged victim who initially claimed he was never molested by Sandusky was Allan Myers, the alleged boy in the showers that Mike McQueary allegedly saw being raped as a 10-year-old boy by Sandusky.

On Nov. 9. 2011, Myers told investigator Curtis Everhart, "Never in my life did I ever feel uncomfortable or violated . . . never did Jerry do wrong by me . . . I will never have anything bad to say about Jerry."

"Investigator Sassano asked Myers if he ever told Shubin the specifics of the sexual conduct between him and Sandusky and he indicated he never told them," Sandusky wrote.

Then, Sandusky quotes Sassano as saying, "This is in contrast to what Shubin told me on Feb. 10, 2012.  Furthermore, Sassano rejected a three-page document given to Inspector [Michael] Corricelli that was purported to be Myers's recollection of sexual conduct because Corricelli indicated he suspected Shubin wrote it," Sandusky wrote.

Regarding Allan Myers, his  "earlier statements exonerated Sandusky," Sandusky wrote. But Myers "was prevented by Shubin from being called as a witness in Sandusky's defense by being hidden at an undisclosed location," Shubin wrote.

Regarding Ryan Ritttmeyer, Sandusky wrote in his motion for a new trial that Rittmeyer was a friend of Dustin Struble's, and that Rittmeyer "incorporated what [Struble] had been told by Shubin to say in his trial testimony."

After he called the state attorney general's sex abuse hotline, Rittmeyer initially told the cops that Sandusky had groped him at a swimming pool and then attempted to have oral sex while driving him around in a silver convertible. According to Rittmeyer, Sandusky said that if he didn’t submit, he would never see his family again.

The problems with Rittmeyer’s story start with the car. 

“Jerry Sandusky never owned a silver convertible,” Dick Anderson, a retired coach who was a colleague of Sandusky’s for decades on the Penn State coaching staff, and has known Sandusky since 1962, when they were Nittany Lions teammates told me in 2018. “He drove Fords or Hondas.”

A 'Social Contagion'

According to Sandusky, "numerous accusers and their families responded to Shubin's request, and potential solutions and came upon large amounts of money and justification for failures through alleging sexual abuse by Sandusky."

"Without Shubin's influence and the lure of financial gain, they may not have come forward, or if they did, would not have presented a compelling story," Sandusky wrote in his motion for a new trial. 

"The social contagion created by Shubin spread to others, accusers, families, attorneys and the public," Sandusky wrote." If Shubin's effort had been eliminated, there is a high probability that the outcome of the trial would have been different."

Full Disclosure: In Sandusky's motion for a new trial, Ralph Cipriano of bigtrial.net filed an affidavit affirming that Penn State secretly paid six accusers represented by Andrew Shubin more than $32 million in confidential settlements.