Sandusky won’t get his pension back

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky won’t be getting back the $4,900-a-month pension that was canceled two years ago after he was sentenced for child molestation.

Sandusky’s attorney Chuck Benjamin told The Associated Press on Friday that the State Employees’ Retirement System issued a 122-page opinion with the decision. Benjamin says he plans to challenge it in a lawsuit.

In June, a hearing examiner recommended that Sandusky get the pension back. The examiner said Sandusky was already retired when the Pension Forfeiture Act was expanded in 2004 to add sexual offenses to the crimes that trigger forfeiture.

The 70-year-old Sandusky is serving a decades-long sentence and appears likely to die in prison. If he’s survived by his wife, Dottie, she’s in line to continue collecting 50 percent of his pension benefits.