By Kevin McCauley
Jack Raykovitz, president & CEO of the Second Mile charity tied to the Penn State sex abuse scandal, resigned today due to fall-out connected with the allegations lodged against the non-profit’s founder and former football coach Jerry Sandusky.
The practicing psychologist testified at the grand jury hearing that indicted Sandusky on 40 counts of child abuse. That jury found that many of the Sandusky’s victims were involved in Second Mile’s charity programs that serve 100,000 children a year. Sandusky told the Second Mile board in 2008 that he was under investigation.
In a statement, Second Mile said it plans to conduct an internal probe of its procedures and make recommendations regarding its future. Those will be released by the end of the year.
The non-profit has retained law firm Archer & Greiner.
Vice chairman David Woodle takes over for Raykovitz, who issued his own statement to say the focus should be on the “children, young adults and families who have been impacted” by the scandal.
He hopes the resignation will bring “the beginning of that restoration of faith in the community of volunteers and staff that, along with the children and families we serve, are The Second Mile.”
Raykovitz wants anybody with information about abuse to contact either Pennsylvania’s attorney general office or state police.
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