Spanier said in a letter dated July 23 to the school’s board of trustees that he would not have turned “a blind eye” to the victims of convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky because of Spanier’s own abuse history. Sandusky, the former assistant football coach, is awaiting sentencing for crimes involving 10 boys, both on and off campus.

“It is unfathomable and illogical to think that a respected family sociologist and family therapist, someone who personally experienced massive and persistent abuse as a child, someone who devoted a significant portion of his career to the welfare of children and youth … would have knowingly turned a blind eye to any report of child abuse or predatory sexual acts directed at children,” Spanier said in the letter.

The letter was obtained by the AP through someone close to the case. The person did not want to be identified because the person was not authorized to release the letter.