Some key records from the charity founded by former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky are missing and investigators worry that this could limit their ability to get to the bottom of allegations that the assistant football coach engaged in sexual abuse of young boys over several years, The New York Times reports.

The material could show if Sandusky used resources of Second Mile, a charity for at-risk children, to allegedly recruit new victims or buy their silence, the Times says, quoting two unidentified people with knowledge of the case.

The newspaper says select members of the charity's board of directors were alarmed when they found out recently that records from about 2000 to 2003 were missing.

The newspaper says Lynne Abraham, a lawyer for Second Mile, did not return a call requesting comment and a spokesman for the state's attorney general declined to comment.

The report appears in a lengthy article in the Times on why the investigation into allegations against Sandusky languished for years.

The article, by Jo Becker, says a key to breaking the case was a random reference in an Internet chat room about Penn State athletics that hinted that a football coach years earlier "might have seen something ugly, but kept silent."

Investigators narrowed the reference down to Mike McQueary, a coach at Penn State who, as a graduate student, had allegedly witnessed Sandusky sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in a Penn State shower in 2002.

Because Penn State is a tight-knit community, investigators chose to meet McQueary in an out-of-the-way parking lot. McQueary, a key witness in the case, eventually unburdened himself, the article says, giving investigators the lead they were seeking.

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