The lawyer for accused pedophile and former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky reportedly impregnated a teenage girl more than a decade ago.
Joe Amendola, 63, was the attorney for Mary Iavasile’s emancipation petition from Sept. 3, 1996, which was filed just weeks before her 17th birthday, according to Centre County Courthouse documents obtained by iPad newspaper The Daily.
That’s approximately when Iavasile became pregnant with Amendola’s child, her mother, Janet Iavasile, told The Daily.
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“At the time, I didn’t know the extent of the relationship,” said Janet.
Amendola seemed more like Mary’s “mentor,” she described the relationship between her teenage daughter and a man in his late 40s.
“She met him through the school district; she was interested in the law,” the mother said.
Amendola and Mary, who is now 32, later married in February 2003, according to court records.
They had a second child around that time but have since split up, Janet said, adding that she now has respect for Amendola.
“Joe is a very good father and has loved his two children very much, and that’s the most important thing for me right now,” she said.
Neither Amendola nor Mary Iavasile returned requests for comment.
Records show that the age of consent in Pennsylvania is 16 years old.