Pennsylvania State University has reached a multimillion dollar settlement with a 25-year-old man who was sexually abused by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky in a campus shower, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. It is the first of 26 claims to be settled in the scandal, with others expected this week. The university has approved spending $60 million for the payouts.
The man, known as Victim 5 in court, was assaulted by Sandusky in 2001, six months after then-graduate assistant Michael McQueary reported to university officials that he saw Sandusky rape a boy in a shower. Because the assault occurred so soon after the McQueary report and took place on campus, it was considered pivotal in reaching settlements with other victims, said Michael Rozen, a lawyer for the university. Neither Rozen or lawyer Thomas Kline, who represents Victim 5, would specify the amount of the settlement, but Rozen said it was one of the highest negotiated because of its circumstances.