Prosecutors in Texas have opened an investigation into the possibility of filing charges against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, police have said.
The move comes following the release of grand jury testimony indicating Sandusky may have sexually assaulted one of his young victims when the Penn State team was in San Antonio for the 1999 Alamo Bowl.
"We are looking into the possibility that an offense may have happened in San Antonio," San Antonio Police Sergeant Chris Benavides said.
Unsealed grand jury testimony in the Sandusky case in Pennsylvania indicates that a now 27-year-old man described in the transcript as "Victim Number Four" testified he was brought to San Antonio as part of the "Sandusky family party" to watch the Nittany Lions beat Texas A&M in the 1999 Alamo Bowl.
The man testified that when he resisted Sandusky's advances, the coach threatened to "send him home."
On Thursday, NBC News National Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff reported that Joe Paterno, Penn State's longtime football coach until he was fired this week, had reached out to a prominent Washington criminal defense lawyer to represent him in the case.
Paterno was sacked Wednesday night after it emerged in a grand jury report that one of his assistants told him in 2002 about alleged incident of sexual abuse by Sandusky. Paterno has not been charged and has been described as a cooperating witness in the case.
A source close to Paterno told Isikoff that the former coach was concerned about the possibility that Sandusky's alleged victims and their families could bring civil lawsuits against him.
Sandusky's last game
The Alamo Bowl game was Sandusky's last at Penn State, as he retired at the end of the 1999 season.
Bexar County First Assistant District Attorney Cliff Herberg said that although authorities were investigating, they did not have a lot to go on.
"All we have at this point is an allegation contained in an indictment from another jurisdiction," Herberg told Reuters Friday.
"So we have no evidence, we have no case, we have no complainant yet," he added.
Sandusky is charged in a 40-count indictment handed up in Pennsylvania, charging him with sexually abusing young boys. His lawyer has said Sandusky maintains his innocence and denies the charges.
"We will have to determine the quality of the evidence, given that it (is) from 1999, on whether we can pursue a case," Herberg said, who added that local officials will be in contact with Pennsylvania prosecutors.
"We are going to take what action we can to see if a case can be built."