Weaver said the former Penn State assistant football coach abused him and gave details during an interview that aired on NBC’s “Rock Center with Brian Williams” on Thursday night.
He said in the interview with Kate Snow that Sandusky sexually abused him more than 100 times, starting in 1992 when he was 10 years old.
Weaver did not testify in the trial taking place in Bellefonte, but he did testify before a grand jury.
Snow reported that Weaver is in a group of men that came forward after charges were filed against Sandusky that said they were abused by him. She said prosecutors did not charge Sandusky related to the second group of men, but could file federal charges against him following the end of the ongoing trial in Bellefonte.
Sandusky is charged with 48 counts of sexually abusing boys he met through his charity, The Second Mile. The jury is currently deliberating the outcome of the trial. Sandusky has maintained his innocence.
Weaver is now filing a lawsuit against Sandusky, The Second Mile, and Penn State University. His lawyer is Jeff Anderson, who specializes in cases regarding sexual abuse.
Weaver did not come forward about the abuse he said occurred until he saw on the news that Sandusky was arrested in November. After that, he told his family about the abuse for the first time, he said during the interview. He said he did not come forward prior to that because he thought he was the only boy this had happened to.
Weaver, who is now 30 years old and living in Cleveland, Ohio with his wife and two daughters, said when he met Sandusky, it was like he was meeting his “hero.”
Like many of the men who testified during the trial, Weaver’s parents were divorced when he was at a young age, and he started to attend summer camps at The Second Mile.
Weaver’s story is similar to the other men who testified, saying Sandusky took an interest in him and started taking him to football games and working out with him. After the workout, Sandusky would shower with Weaver and would “wrestle” with him while they were still naked, Weaver said during the interview.
Weaver said Sandusky would rub his backside, blow on his stomach and rub his genitals, which “progressed to oral sex.”
Weaver said Sandusky attempted to perform anal sex once in a Penn State locker room shower when he was 11 or 12 years old, but it “hurt really bad” and he told Sandusky to stop.
He said he stayed at the Sandusky residence over 100 times over the course of a few years. Most of the time, he said he would stay in the basement, and when everyone went to bed, Sandusky would come down to the basement and talk to Weaver or play video games or pool with him.
He said this would eventually lead to sexual acts.
When he was at the Sandusky residence, Weaver said he didn’t think Dottie Sandusky, Jerry’s wife, liked him very much. He said during the interview that she acted “distant” and “never wanted to talk to [him],” adding she seemed “stern.”
When asked if he thought Dottie had any idea the abuse he said happened was occurring, he said he “can’t say for sure.”
“How could you not know?” Weaver said during the interview.
Dottie Sandusky testified during the trial on Tuesday for the defense and has stood by her husband.
While in Philadelphia for a Second Mile fundraiser, Weaver said Sandusky was wrestling with him in the hotel room when Weaver threatened to call the police on him. Sandusky told him if he told the police, Sandusky would get Weaver’s father fired from his position at Penn State, Weaver said during the interview.
Weaver also said Sandusky suggested adopting him to Weaver’s father.
Weaver was 14 years old at the time, and he said he moved to Cleveland, Ohio to live with his mother soon after that to get away from Sandusky.
Weaver said he thinks he will eventually be OK.
“Yeah, I’ll be OK when [Sandusky] is in prison,” he said during the interview.