Sandusky’s victim shares experience with Niagara investigators

Aaron Fisher was child predator Jerry Sandusky’s first victim. He’s also the only one who’s stepped out of the shadows of anonymity to publicly tell his story.

Speaking to child abuse and Children’s Aid Society investigators this morning in Niagara Falls, Fisher talked about how he was victimized both by Sandusky and the child protective system.

Fisher was targeted by Sandusky at the age of 11. The football hero made the fatherless boy feel special. The second year at Sandusky’s summer camp the sexual abuse began. and continued for a few years.

“I lost a good portion of my childhood years. The years were there. The childhood portion was not.”

The child abuse investigators Fisher addressed have all seen their share of Jerry Sanduskys.

Staff Sgt. Randy Bleich is with the Niagara Regional Police:  “It’s a guy out there moulding these children. Brings them along. Grooms them.”

Aaron Fisher wrote a book, Silent No More. At 14 he summoned up enough courage to tell his mother.

“This is my child. How did I miss this?”

They both went to his high school principal, who told Aaron “Jerry has a heart of gold and wouldn’t do those types of things.” Aaron was devastated.

“I was crying. And then I bawled even more. It didn’t feel too great. It was kind of like a punch in the mouth.”

From Aaron’s guidance counsellor to his his school principal and all the way up to the state attorney general’s office, many people in Pennsylvania refused to believe
that philanthropist and football hero Jerry Sandusky would abuse children. He was rejected and ridiculed and even threatened by people who in his town who believed the Sandusky allegations were lies.

Aaron finally found a friend in psychologist Michael Gillum. “It was obvious he was traumatized. And it was obvious he was extremely fearful that retaliation could occur, including Sandusky attempting to kill him and his family.”

It took four court proceedings, including two grand juries for prosecutors to finally bring Sandusky to justice. But there are still many Sandusky supporters, including his wife Dottie.

Now Aaron was abused inside the Sandusky home and doesn’t believe the wife didn’t know.  As for Jerry Sandusky, he’s serving a 30 to 60 year prison sentence.  And even though he’s still behind bars — Aaron says he’s still afraid of him.