Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced on Tuesday to 30 to 60 years in prison for sexually abusing 10 boys over a period of 15 years.
Sandusky could have faced as long as 400 years for being convicted on 45 counts of child sexual abuse, but McKean County Common Pleas Judge John Cleland told 68-year-old Sandusky that he would be in prison "for the rest of your life".
"The crime is not only what you did to their bodies but to their psyches and their souls and the assault to the well-being of the larger community in which we all live," Cleland said.
Three of Sandusky's victims and the mother of a fourth tearfully addressed the court. "You were the person in my life who was supposed to be a role model, teach honor, respect and accountability, and instead you did terrible things that screwed up my life," said one of the victims.
"You had the chance to plead guilty and spare us the testimony," he said. "Rather than take the accountability, you decided to try to attack us as if we had done something wrong."
Another victim said: "I have tried to think of the words to describe how Jerry Sandusky has impacted my life. There are no words adequate to express the pain and misery he has inflicted in the past, present and future."
Sandusky maintained his innocence, saying: "I didn't do these alleged disgusting acts." His lawyer plans on appealing the sentence.
Source: usnews.nbcnews.com
