Jerry Sandusky Biography on Amazon Turns Into Outlet of Rage Toward Accused Child Rapist
A biography about alleged child rapist Jerry Sandusky titled Touched: the Jerry Sandusky Story is no longer for sale on Amazon.com, but customers are still leaving reviews on the book's product page. However, customers are not leaving actual reviews of the book - they are instead using the feedback section as a forum to express their outrage over the child sex abuse scandal that has shocked the country.
The customer reviews range from somber concern for the alleged victims to snarky sarcasm, as well as a lot of sheer anger over the stomach-turning charges described in the grand jury indictment and talked about endlessly on cables news.
One comment suggested that the irony of an alleged child molester naming his biography Touched was a result of arrogant narcissism. "Mr. Sandusky is both a genius and a narcissist, which makes him the perfect predator," wrote reviewer M. Munson. "At no time was his narcissism more apparent than when he titled his book 'Touched.' I guarantee this coward will 'off' himself, before he ever spends a day with the general prison population."
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M. Munson added: "I, for one, would like to see him spend the rest of his life locked up with the general prison population; then, perhaps he can write the sequel entitled 'Touched II: Predator Becomes Prey.' "
"The mere fact that this sick man wrote a story about himself with this title makes me shake with anger," wrote NurseWifeMother. "There is absolutely no way that he was unaware of this irony. I am even more sickened by the fact that he writes about his 'charitable' work through The Second Mile. Too bad that The Last Mile is only for murderers. This man belongs there. Sexual assault is murder of the soul."
She continued: "Jerry, you sicken me. But the Lord will judge you and His justice will be far more appropriate than anything we can dish out on this planet."
The fact that the allegations went on for several years and the possibility they were covered up also fueled some reviews.
"A great read for anyone without a soul or void of character! If you enjoy looking the other way, you won't be able to put this book down," wrote HowRue'D. "An extra bonus are the chapters on 'Sweeping Tragedy Under the Rug' and 'Watching Out for Number One: The Good Ol' Boys Club'. Watch for his follow-up book: "Jerry's Kids: How To Scream 'I'm a Pervert!' At The Top Of Your Lungs And Get Away With It For Decades."
There have also been several demands for Amazon to remove the book from its website.
"Jerry Sandusky is a disgrace to mankind, a child rapist, and not only deserves to have all of his books removed from publication but also deserves to rot in hell," wrote k23. "Amazon, please do the right thing and out of respect for the innumerable young boys whose innocence and lives he destroyed, as well as the mothers who trusted their children with him, remove access to all of his books from your site. Not removing his books only adds you to the sickening long list of those who protected this sad excuse for a man."
Although Touched is not available for purchase, other books authored by Sandusky about football coaching techniques are still available.
Touched was co-authored by Kip Richeal, a former equipment manager for the Penn State football team. Richeal met Sandusky when he was an 18-year-old journalism student at the school, and described their first encounter in the foreword of the book:
My first real contact with Jerry Sandusky came from a rather odd question he posed to me: "How much do you weigh, young man?" I was puzzled, because I knew he wasn't interested in me as a linebacker, but I told him I weighed about 95 pounds. "Get up on that scale," he ordered. I did and the locker room scale topped out at 96.
"Not bad," Jerry said, trying to sound as mean as possible, "but you still have some work to do." Sensing my confusion, Jerry stared at me and continued. "We gotta get you up to 100 pounds before you're ready to fight me."
Fight him? I barely knew him. "When you get to 100 pounds, it's gonna be you and me in the center of the locker room in a boxing match. Then I'll show you who the real boss is. It'll be you and me eyeball-to-belly button."
In an interview with Deadspin, Richeal, now 51, said that he had never witnessed Richeal act inappropriately with players or young boys from Sandusky's charity, The Second Mile. He also described the "boxing" incident normal because "you didn't think like that."
In light of the child abuse allegations, however, Richeal would be "uncomfortable," he said.
Regarding those allegations, "I want to believe it's not true," Richeal told Deadspin. "I'm not an accuser or a judge, so I'll have to sit back and let it all play out. The person I knew, I never ever saw anything like that. I saw him with Second Mile kids many times - at his home, at the stadium for game days, at practices. And it was never anything like that. He never did that around me."
He added: "But I wasn't a little kid."
