Penn State: AG subpoenaed several employees

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Penn State's in-house lawyer said Friday state prosecutors have served subpoenas on "a number" of university employees, but the brief announcement on the school's website provided little detail.

General counsel Cynthia Baldwin did not say how many subpoenas were issued or when they were received. She also did not disclose what information was sought and did not name the recipients.

"We believe it is appropriate that it be left up to them and their attorneys whether to reveal their identities," said the one-paragraph announcement. She said the school would not comment further, and a phone message left for the attorney general's office was not immediately returned.

Last month, the university made public a federal subpoena related to the child sexual abuse scandal for which former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky faces 52 criminal counts. Sandusky, 68, is confined to his home to await a mid-May start of trial. He has denied the allegations.

The federal subpoena, issued by the U.S. attorney's office in Harrisburg, sought information about payments by trustees to Penn State and enumerated eight categories of records, including any requirements that staff report misconduct.

It also directed Baldwin to preserve computers and records and specifically sought the hard drives of Sandusky, former president Graham Spanier, former vice president Gary Schultz and athletic director Tim Curley.

The trustees have said they are cooperating with federal and state investigations, and their own Special Investigations Task Force also is looking into the matter.

Schultz and Curley have asked a judge to dismiss charges that they lied to the grand jury investigating Sandusky and failed to properly report suspected abuse of a boy in the Penn State football team showers a decade ago.

Spanier was forced out of office after the three men were charged in November, but he has not been charged with any crime and remains a tenured Penn State faculty member.

Curley is on leave while he fights the charges. Schultz has stepped down.

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