Corbett says Sandusky case moved as quickly as possible

Gov. Corbett said Wednesday the three-year investigation that led to child-rape charges against former football coach Jerry Sandusky moved "as quickly as it possibly could" and dismissed as misinformed any suggestion that law enforcement officials may have left a potential predator unchecked.

Corbett, who as state attorney general supervised the investigation, said police and prosecutors had to carefully corroborate sex-abuse accusations against the longtime Pennsylvania State University defensive coordinator, then build a case for a grand jury to approve.

"The investigation moved as quickly as it possibly could," the governor told reporters during a visit to a Northeast Philadelphia charter school. "If, during the time that I was in office, we could have been in a position to make an arrest, we would have made an arrest."

Corbett spoke as the spotlight in the still-unfolding case shifted from Sandusky's alleged abuse to the people and institutions that may have had a chance to expose or stop it.

The case has already cost fabled football coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham B. Spanier their jobs, led to perjury charges against two school administrators, sparked at least three investigations, and brought calls for new state or federal laws mandating the reporting of child-abuse allegations.

Ten days after it broke, the case continued to ripple. Lawmakers in Harrisburg proposed forming a bipartisan commission to examine the Penn State scandal and propose reforms.

Responding to concerns about impartiality, the state judiciary named a judge from outside State College to oversee the next hearing in Sandusky's case.

According to a grand jury presentment, Sandusky, 67, came under scrutiny after the mother of a Clinton County teenager said he had abused her son in 2008.

The state Attorney General's Office took over the investigation in March 2009 and, over time, identified seven other boys Sandusky allegedly had molested in his home, on campus, or on football team trips since the mid-1990s, when he was still coaching at Penn State.

Sandusky and his lawyer have denied the charges and suggested at least half the alleged victims might dispute the grand jury account.