Jerry Sandusky's Second Mile Charity Under Investigation by U.S. Postal Inspector 3/23/12 2:34 PM

Jerry Sandusky's Second Mile charity under investigation by U.S. Postal Inspector 3/23/12 2:34 PM

Jerry Sandusky's Second Mile charity under investigation by U.S. Postal Inspector

Published: Friday, March 23, 2012, 2:07 PM Updated: Friday, March 23, 2012, 2:54 PM

SARA GANIM, The Patriot-News By

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has launched an investigation into Jerry Sandusky’s children’s charity, The Second Mile.

It is the seventh formal investigation to start since the former Penn State defensive coordinator was charged last year with more than 50 counts of child sex abuse; most of the alleged victims were from the charity.

A former regional board member from the Harrisburg area told The Patriot-News that she was interviewed Thursday by investigators from the Philadelphia division of the office and was told to keep the nature of the questions confidential.

However former board member Claudia Williams, who is an attorney, said she was also told that “it’s public knowledge that we are investigating the Second Mile’s use of mail to solicit donations.” Her impression was that the investigation was about the organization’s practices, and not Sandusky- specific.

The interview lasted about an hour, she said.

Messages left with both the Washington, D.C., office and the Philadelphia division of the Postal Inspection Service were not immediately returned. View full size DAN GLEITER, The Patriot-News, 2011 The Second Mile's new CEO, David Woodle, and a Second Mile offices in Lower Allen Township. spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment today.

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Postal inspectors have authority over more than 200 federal laws that affect mail-related crime.

Among those are child exploitation, related to the distribution of pornography and other crimes related to kids; extortion, when demands for ransom or threats of blackmail are sent through the mail; mail fraud; counterfeit stamps; and money laundering.

It's not to be confused with the office of the U.S. Office of the Inspector General, which has jurisdiction over postal employee misconduct.

The Second Mile raised more than $2 million in 2010, but its donations have dropped significantly since the Sandusky scandal broke in November. The organization laid off several people in January, and the Camp Hill branch office was closed.

Woodle said earlier this week that they are still trying to decide how to move forward.

However, beginning in April, more than 10 high schools will send teams of students and their guidance counselors to The Second Mile for its Leadership Institute, for lectures and workshops, he said. He declined to name the participating high schools.

And, Woodle said, The Second Mile will host between four and six weeks of camp this summer.

Before the scandal, the charity's most visible fundraising campaign was an annual golf tournament, which raised about $100,000, where Sandusky was almost always in attendance -- even once in 2010 after the grand jury investigation in to alleged sex crimes began. Most of the other money raised was mailed in by check, said Bonnie Marshall, the former vice president of development for the charity.

Advertising, which is done on the radio and by mail, says the charity reaches more than 200,000 kids a year. However, the majority of the those kids are reached through school-based programs.

Last year, 282 teens attended the April leadership institute at The Second Miile. About 800 participated in the summer camps.

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