Penn state aide McQueary files whistleblower suit

By NBC News Producer Tom Winter Chris Gardner / Getty Images file Assistant coach Mike McQueary of the Penn State Nittany Lions walks the sidelines in State College, Pa., Sept. 12, 2009. NBC News has learned that former Penn State football assistant Mike McQueary filed a whistleblower lawsuit seeking $4 million from the university on Tuesday afternoon, claiming he was made a "scapegoat" for the university's failures to rein in a coach accused of sexual assault. McQueary is the staffer who said he witnessed assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky having sex with a boy in the locker room in 2001, and reported what he saw to head football coach Joe Paterno. Sandusky, 68, was found guilty in 2012 of 45 counts of child sexual abuse. Here is a copy of the lawsuit in a PDF file. Follow Open Channel from NBC News on Twitter and Facebook. The lawsuit says McQueary is seeking $4 million. His base salary in 2011 was $140,400 plus bonuses and benefits, making his anticipated earnings over the next 25 years at least $4 million. McQueary says he was placed on administrative leave a week after a grand jury found that university officials made false statements about what McQueary had told them. Gary Schultz, a former senior vice president at Penn State, and Tim Curley, the former athletic coordinator, are accused of lying to a grand jury about what they knew of sex abuse allegations against Sandusky. The university has been paying the legal fees of other Penn State employees in the case, but not McQueary's. McQueary was a graduate assistant football coach from 2000 through 2003, and then an assistant football coach until 2011. He said he saw Sandusky engaging in sex with a boy who appeared to be 10 to 12 years old in the staff locker room of the Lasch Football Building. He said he reported the incident to his supervisor, Coach Paterno, the next day. He said he relied on statements by the athletic director and senior vice president of the university that they would take action. Penn State Communications Director David LaTorre said, "We won't have a comment." McQueary also is seeking compensation for having his automobile privileges revoked, compensation for early withdrawls from his retirement account, bowl game bonuses from the 2011 season, back pay through Sandusky's trial, and his legal expenses.