Pennsylvania has been ordered to restore the pension of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who had his $4,900-a-month benefits cancelled after he was convicted on child molestation charges three years ago.
A Commonwealth Court panel ruled unanimously Friday that the State Employees' Retirement Board erroneously concluded that Sandusky was an employee at Penn State when he committed the crimes that led to his pension forfeiture, reported the Associated Press.
"Because we find that nothing in the record in any way establishes that Mr. Sandusky was a PSU employee when the underlying criminal acts were committed, we reverse the Board's decision," the ruling states, according to Philly.com.
Sandusky, 70, is currently serving 30 to 60 years in Pennsylvania's Greene State Prison for sexually abusing 10 children between July 2005 and December 2008, according to the New York Daily News. His wife Dottie will continue collecting 50 percent of his pension upon his death, according to CBS News.
Sandusky spent decades working as Penn State's defensive football coach and collected a lump sum of $148,000 upon retiring in 1999. He then began receiving monthly payments of $4,900, collecting a total of $900,000 by September 2012. However, the board stopped those payments in October 2012 on the day he was sentenced.
The seven-judge panel ruled that the board's characterization of Sandusky as a Penn State employee after his retirement "had no reasonable basis whatsoever."
"The board conflated the requirements that Mr. Sandusky engage in 'work relating to' PSU and that he engage in that work 'for' PSU," wrote Judge Dan Pellegrini. "Mr. Sandusky's performance of services that benefited PSU does not render him a PSU employee."
