CNN report: Joe Paterno knew years earlier about Jerry Sandusky's potential abuse

Joe Paterno had received a warning about potential abuse by former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky years before his arrest, according to CNN.

CNN obtained a Pennsylvania state police report that described the account of whistleblower Mike McQueary, who went to Paterno to tell the coach he had witnessed an incident between Sandusky and a young boy in a locker room.

According to CNN, citing the police report, Paterno allegedly told McQueary in 2001 that the claim against Sandusky "was the second complaint of this nature he had received,"

McQueary's claim of abuse and other allegations led to Sandusky's conviction in 2012 for sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years, including three victims after the 2001 locker room incident. He is serving a sentence of at least 30 years in prison. An appeal is pending.

The report casts further doubt on claims made by Paterno and Paterno's family and supporters that the late Penn State coach knew nothing of the incidents before the 2001 incident.

From the CNN report:

McQueary, a one-time Penn State football assistant who became the star witness in the case against Sandusky, told state police in 2011 that he'd visited Paterno on a Saturday morning 10 years earlier to tell him that the previous evening he had witnessed "an extreme sexual act occurring between Sandusky and a young boy" in a football locker room shower, according to the report by Pennsylvania police.

"Paterno, upon hearing the news, sat back in his chair with a dejected look on his face," the report states, adding that McQueary "said Paterno's eyes appeared to well up with tears."

"Then he made the comment to McQueary this was the second complaint of this nature he had received about Sandusky," the report states, citing McQueary's recollection.

Paterno and McQueary had "no discussion of the previous complaint at that time or any other time," the report states.

The police report also notes, again according to McQueary, that Paterno told the young assistant that his wife, Sue Paterno, once had told the head coach that Sandusky's wife, Dottie Sandusky, "told her Jerry doesn't like girls."

Attorneys for the Paterno family and for Dottie Sandusky did not respond to CNN's requests for comment.