It can’t get any worse, right?

That was the thought yesterday after pennlive.com reported that court documents revealed that one of Jerry Sandusky’s victims told Joe Paterno that the former Penn State assistant assaulted him in 1976.

But CNN’s Sara Ganim reported that it was even worse than that.

Two of Sandusky’s victims claimed that they also told Paterno they were abused in the 1970s. The deposition of one of the alleged victims remains sealed.

The other, however, told CNN that Sandusky raped him in a bathroom in 1971 when he was 15 years old. He said Paterno ignored the accusation and told him to drop the case against Sandusky, who is now serving a 30-year prison sentence. CNN confirmed the alleged victim’s story with two of his friends, one of which was a Pennsylvania State Trooper.

Here was the story the victim told to CNN.com:

Victim A says he was hitchhiking when Sandusky picked him up, bought him beer, gave him pot — and then attacked him as he was standing at a urinal in a Penn State bathroom.
“I felt his presence behind me,” he said. “I felt his left knee on the back of my knee, and his arms went around me, grabbing my …” he trails off. “He said, ‘Let me help you with this.'”
Victim A said he jerked his head back, hitting Sandusky in the jaw. His head started bleeding and they both fell to the floor.
“Then there was a wrestling session,” he says. “And I lost. One thing led to another and the crime happened.”
The victim said he would’ve testified against Paterno in trial, but he died before he ever got the chance.

Victim A also told CNN that that “State College is a disgusting place, the way they treat crimes against kids. We are living in a very sick atmosphere.”

To make matters even worse, NBC News reported that as many as six coaches witnessed Sandusky abusing children as far back as the 1970s. Like pennlive.com’s report on Thursday, the reports came from court documents as well as multiple sources with knowledge of the case.

Penn State released a statement in response to the NBC News claims:

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State has released a statement following the surfacing of allegations involving former coaches.

The university is facing and has faced a number of litigation matters and claims related to the Sandusky events.  Allegations of various kinds have been made, and will likely continue to be made.  The university does not speculate publicly or hypothesize about individual allegations.  These are sensitive matters, and we want to be respectful of the rights of all individuals involved.  It would be inappropriate to do otherwise.

Penn State has continuously expressed its concern for victims of child abuse and its overarching commitment to not only ensuring our campuses are safe for children, but to also helping to build greater awareness of child sexual abuse and maltreatment.

In the past five years, Penn State has enacted a multitude of reforms focused on fighting child abuse, and has introduced best practices in governance, management and compliance.

These include, but are not limited to the following:

— The establishment of the Network on Child Protection and Well-Being (http://protectchildren.psu.edu/) with the goal of advancing knowledge, practice, education and outreach to combat child abuse.

— Creation of the Center for Protection of Children (at Penn State Hershey Medical Center). The over-arching purpose of the Center for the Protection of Children is to develop and coordinate research, education and policy initiatives having to do with child abuse/protection – within Penn State Hershey, Penn State’s broader Network on Child Protection and Wellbeing, as well as with community partners.

— The institution of a new administrative policy,  AD-72, “Reporting Suspected Child Abuse,” to provide guidance to University employees regarding mandated reporting requirements according to the University and the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law.

— Development of an online “Reporting Child Abuse” online training required for new employees, and current employees required to take every three years.

— The creation of a national conference on child sexual abuse. The inaugural conference was held Oct. 28-30, 2012, and is held annually.

— Creation of an Office of Ethics and Compliance, and the Ethics and Compliance Council to coordinate, integrate and oversee all University compliance functions.

— Hired an athletics integrity officer and changed the reporting line of the University’s athletics compliance office to the director of ethics and compliance rather than the athletic director.

— Enacted a formal policy review process that resulted in the creation or revision of policies and procedures regarding youth protection, facility security, reporting potential wrongdoing, anti-retaliation, discrimination and sexual harassment, employee background checks, and institutional financial conflicts of interest and board conflicts of interest.

— Developed comprehensive compliance and ethics training and education programs.

— Developed and implemented a comprehensive action plan to ensure compliance with Title IX requirements and to address a national concern about sexual assault on campuses; and
— Undertook a University-wide effort to promote a “see something, say something” climate and to enforce the University’s anti-retaliation policy.

— Instituted a series of policies to correct and promote appropriate conduct (Policy AD88: Code of Responsible Conduct; Policy AD67: Disclosure of Wrongful Conduct and Protection from Retaliation; Policy AD88: Code of Responsible Conduct; Policy AD83: Institutional Financial Conflict of Interest; HR101: Positions Requiring National Search Process; Policies AD86: Acceptance of Gifts and Entertainment; AD89: University Export Compliance Policy; and AD53: Privacy Statement)

More details from this case are likely to emerge as court documents surface in Penn State’s pending trial over Sandusky’s $60 million settlement payment.