Jerry Sandusky Accuser Expected to Recant Allegations

According to court documents obtained by Onward State, the accuser—identified in filings as Ryan Rittmeyer, or R.R.—submitted an affidavit in June 2025 taking back his trial testimony, asserting that his memory was heavily influenced by investigators during the pretrial process.

What the Affidavit Alleges About Pretrial Interrogation

During the original 2012 proceedings, Rittmeyer testified that he suffered multiple nonconsensual sexual encounters with Sandusky after meeting him through the Second Mile youth organization in 1997. Rittmeyer and Sandusky met through the Second Mile Program, the youth organization Sandusky founded, in 1997. During the 2012 trial, Rittmeyer testified that he had multiple nonconsensual sexual encounters with Sandusky starting before a football game in the fall of 1997. Rittmeyer said during his testimony that on one occasion Sandusky wrestled him to the ground, pinned him, and then pulled down his pants to perform oral sex. He also recalled a time when the two were in a pool, and Sandusky slipped his hand under Rittmeyer’s swim trunks. Rittmeyer and Penn State settled on a $5.5 million civil settlement after the trial. Those claims helped build a conviction that landed Sandusky, now 82, a prison sentence. But the 2025 affidavit paints a starkly different picture of how those allegations were assembled.

In the sworn document dated June 30, 2025, Rittmeyer stated that he had no clear or certain memory of Sandusky sexually abusing him when he was first interviewed by the Pennsylvania State Police. He maintained that interviewers pressed him repeatedly, stressing that his cooperation was vital to stopping a predator. Rittmeyer said that when investigations began, investigators told him his role was critical to stopping a predator. Rittmeyer said investigators questioned him multiple times about his experience with Sandusky and encouraged him to reconsider his recollection of interactions. Rittmeyer said he was told that trauma could cause fragmented memories. They emphasized that other alleged victims were reluctant to come forward and repeatedly encouraged me to believe that Mr. Sandusky had molested me, Rittmeyer said in the affidavit. He also claimed the investigation process affected what he believed had happened and that his false testimony wasn’t willfully false, but induced.

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Ryan Rittmeyer Affidavit and Pretrial Interrogation Claims

Victim 10 alleges prosecutors coached him in order to steer his testimony and asked him to revisit and reframe his allegations, writing in a sworn affidavit provided to the defense that [t]hroughout the pretrial process, I was told — both directly and indirectly — that trauma may have fragmented my memory, and that I could safely affirm details I did not fully recall. I was assured this was common and even expected.

Centre County Court Prepares for a Sept. 8 Evidentiary Hearing

A Centre County judge scheduled the high-stakes evidentiary hearing for Sept. 8 in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, to evaluate the petition for a new trial brought by Sandusky’s legal team. Sandusky has maintained his innocence throughout his imprisonment. Sandusky, who is now 82, has been serving a decades-long prison sentence after he was convicted in 2012 of abusing boys. Sandusky was convicted in 2012 of 45 counts of child sexual abuse, after eight men testified that Sandusky had sexually abused them as children, and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison. He was resentenced in 2019.

Centre County Court Schedules Sept. 8 Evidentiary Hearing

During an upcoming evidentiary hearing, a victim identified as R.R., his estranged wife, the Sandusky family investigator and a former state prosecutor are all expected to testify. Defense attorneys plan to call Rittmeyer himself, his estranged wife Jasmine Rittmeyer, private investigator Frank Parlato, and former chief deputy attorney general Frank Fina, who served as a lead prosecutor during the 2012 trial. One of the former prosecutors in the case — Frank Fina — who was formerly associated with the state’s attorney general’s office, has also been subpoenaed for the hearing, which is scheduled for September 8th.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Prosecutors Respond to Defense Motion

State prosecutors have pushed back against the breadth of the defense strategy. Sandusky’s defense team said in a motion seeking a new trial that victim 10’s now-estranged wife would testify that she concluded Victim 10 was not sexually abused as a child by Sandusky. Prosecutors with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office said in their response to the defense motion that the woman’s opinion thirteen years after defendant's trial, pondering what she thinks may or may not have really happened to [Victim 10] when he was 10 years old, or any other Sandusky child victim for that matter, is irrelevant and inadmissible. State attorneys are seeking to limit testimony strictly to the recantation itself rather than broader challenges to the historic prosecution.