Bogus victims make it tougher for real sexual abuse victims - abc27 WHTM

Advocate: Bogus claims make it tougher for real sexual abuse victims

A victims rights advocate said she is shocked and disgusted by apparently bogus claims of abuse at the hands of Jerry Sandusky.

Kristen Houser of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape said the claims will discourage real victims of sexual abuse from coming forward.

One of the petitioners claimed to be the grandson of Joe Paterno. The other claimed to be the cousin of former Wisconsin quarterback Brooks Bollinger.

The Paterno family said no family member has filed anything. The Bollinger family said they have no family member by the name listed on the filing.

To cast further doubt on the filings, one of the residences given is that of a Chuck E Cheese. The other is the address of a comedy club.

Houser said bogus filings will make it tougher for actual victims to come forward, knowing they will be facing more scrutiny.

"It makes people want to be more suspicious of anybody that comes forward," she said. "Is this real or is it not real?"

Houser said only four to six percent of sexual assault cases turn out to be false reports. She also said there are likely many more real Sandusky victims out there.

"People who commit sex offenses begin their offending in adolescence. That means he has had more than fifty years of perpetrating crimes and there are likely hundreds of actual survivors of his crimes out there."