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Who was Todd Hodne? Forgotten Penn State sexual predator comes to light in new report

Before Jerry Sandusky, Hodne was involved in a series of sexual assaults from 1978, before ending up in jail, but was hardly ever mentioned by the press
UPDATED APR 12, 2022
Todd Hodne after his arrest in 1987 for the murder of Jeffrey Hirsch. (Suffolk County Police Department via ESPN)
Todd Hodne after his arrest in 1987 for the murder of Jeffrey Hirsch. (Suffolk County Police Department via ESPN)

Between 1994 and 2009, Jerry Sandusky raped and sexually abused numerous minors through his non-profit while being an assistant coach at Pennsylvania State University. The scandal is perhaps the worst ever to hit the university, but it appears that it's not the only one. After painstaking research, a new article has uncovered another serial sexual offender who played at Penn State — Todd Hodne. 

To date, Hodne's story has largely been kept out of the press. The former linebacker died in 2020 while serving time in a New York state prison for killing cab driver Jeffrey Hirsch, who he was trying to rob. It wasn't his only stint in jail. Much before that, Hodne spent time in jail on two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault, and one count of attempted second-degree robbery. All those charges came while he was playing for Penn State, at the same time when Joe Paterno becomes an American icon.

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"It's the story of a Penn State football player who, as his team ascended to the pinnacle of the sport, was ransacking the lives of women in the dark," noted Tom Junod and Paula Lavigne of ESPN, who uncovered the story of Hodne, and the aftermath of his crimes. For the first time since they were committed, we have in full, the story of Hodne. 

The Penn State University campus is seen on November 8, 2011 in University Park, Pennsylvania. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Who was Todd Hodne?

A student of St. Dominic High School in Oyster Bay, Long Island, Hodne joined Penn State in 1977 as a linebacker. He was dubbed a "prized recruit", but there was also a dark side. According to one family member, Hodne "had no control over his dark impulses." ESPN said he was "driven and determined and a little desperate." All those attributes led Hodne to quickly become famous not for his football, but for his criminal record.

Just a year after joining Penn State, his promising career was put on ice after he was arrested for breaking into a records store. But even before that, he became well known for his indifference to the law. At school, Hodne reportedly carried around a knife, and once even battered a senior with quarters in his fist. He also bragged about doing burglaries and stealing car stereos. Eventually, he was caught after one of his classmates, the son of a Nassau County police officer spilled the beans. But it did little to turn him away from a life of crime. 

In June 1978, Hodne and a group stole $800 worth of merchandise from the Record Ranch. Despite the felony charge, he was bailed out and allowed to return to university. That's when his crimes turned more serious. Eventually, Hodne was sentenced to 21 years for the rapes and sexual assaults but was paroled in 1986. It led to more assaults and even addiction before he ended up killing taxi driver Jeffrey Hirsch during an attempted robbery. That finally put Hodne in prison for life, where he died in 2020.

Hodne's sexual assaults

"I had a hand around my mouth and a knife at my neck, and a voice said, 'I'll kill you if you say a word.'" Minutes later, Hodne raped Betsy Sailor on September 13, 1978. It was the first of many women that Hodne would rape. He was arrested after Sailor filed a police complaint, but that didn't stop him from going after other women. It is believed Hodne assaulted around nine victims, but exact details are hard to come by given that most records are now lost to time. 

In almost all the cases, Hodne used a weapon like a knife or a pair of scissors, leaving his victims fearful for their lives. It didn't help that Hodne wasn't named or shamed by Paterno, and even many of his teammates refused to believe Hodne was guilty. Eventually, the truth caught up to Hodne, thanks in part to Sailor's testimony. In September 1979, he entered a plea agreement on two of the rape counts as well as two counts of sexual abuse. 

Hodne eventually died on April 29, 2020, from cancer. However, his victims continue to live with the horrific memories of their traumatic experiences, made worse by the fact he was repeatedly let go, and never publicly named or shamed. As ESPN wrote, "It is not just a story that hasn't been told; it's a story that doesn't exist, even in obscure corners of the internet." That is until they put it out in whole.

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