Court ruling gives Jerry Sandusky back his Penn State pension

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A Pennsylvania court is ordering the state government to restore the pension of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted of sexually abusing 10 boys.

A Commonwealth Court panel ruled unanimously Friday that the State Employees' Retirement Board wrongly concluded Sandusky was a Penn State employee when he committed the crimes that were the basis for the pension forfeiture.

The pension is worth about $4,900 a month to Sandusky and his wife, Dottie.

The judges also ordered the board to pay back interest. They reinstated the pension retroactively to when the board ended it in October 2012 on the day he was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.

Sandusky collected a $148,000 lump sum payment upon retirement in 1999. He's now 71.