LEWISBURG -- Matt Sandusky, the adopted son of Jerry Sandusky, spoke to a crowd at Lewisburg Area High School Wednesday night. It was the first time he’s been asked to speak in the Keystone State since the Jerry Sandusky child sex scandal erupted.
Prior to the talk, a man was taken out of the auditorium by police yelling, "This is what happens when you try to tell the truth."
Some in the audience applauded.
Matthew Sandusky says he suffered child sex abuse at the hands of his adopted father, the former Penn State assistant football coach.
"It's a lot tougher than it has been in the past with all of my other speaking engagements and I've done plenty of them. It's just being in my own home state, being close to home, those things. I just really want to get the message out. It is bigger than me. It is bigger than Matt Sandusky. It is bigger than Dottie Sandusky or Jerry Sandusky."
Jerry Sandusky ignited a statewide and nationwide scandal when he was first accused and later convicted of sexually assaulting children.
He has maintained his innocence.
He's serving a prison sentence of 30 to 60 years.
Newswatch 16 was not allowed to record Matt Sandusky’s talk, which was titled “Triumph After Opression,” but Newswatch 16’s Sarah Buynobvsky did interview him beforehand and attended the speech.
Sandusky told the crowd he is focused on healing.
"I started three years ago when I disclosed, and I've been in therapy ever since. I'm working on myself, constantly reading. Speaking is part of my healing journey. I never wanted to speak about it. I hid it forever. Even going and speaking to police and grand juries, it was never to protect him, the person who abused me. It was to protect myself because the worst thing that I could imagine was anyone ever knowing that this has happened to me."
"It is hard for me to believe that somebody could do that to their child, especially an adopted child or any child for that matter, so I just thought, life is just so difficult today and I'm happy that he feels comfortable in coming to speak to all of us,” said Dottie Douglass who attended the talk.
"I'm very proud of this young man for coming forward and telling his story. I think it's healing for him. I hope it is anyway, and I hope people can be educated in how to look for the signs when things are happening because we know they are,” said Miranda McGinnis of Lewisburg.
Sandusky's talk was sponsored by Susquehanna Valley CASA, Voices for Children and Transitions of PA, which helps victims of abuse and violence.
"The fact that this happened less than 100 miles away made the whole Sandusky incident so close to us. I'm happy we were able to get a little healing by talking about it,” said Susan Mathias of Transitions of PA.
Matt Sandusky says he's not sure exactly what his adopted mother, Dottie Sandusky, knew about the abuse, but he's convinced she knew something was wrong. He says she and his adopted siblings don't speak to him.
Matt Sandusky has children of his own and still lives in State College.
He says while he may have critics, his message is all about protecting children.
“From the time of my disclosure, they cut me out and they called me liar, and unfortunately, they are in the crowd tonight, and they decided that they would come here, and they didn't come here to support me. They didn't come here to see if I'm doing OK. They came here to ridicule me, attack me, and call me the things that they've called me forever and that's their goal here tonight, to rattle me, to silence me and my message to them as I say out there, is it's not going to work."
Jerry Sandusky was not convicted of abuse charges related to Matt Sandusky.
Matt Sandusky has written a book about his experience, titled "Undaunted."
As for the man who was taken out, police tell us he was arrested for disrupting the event.
