Former US House speaker Dennis Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in prison Wednesday for paying hush money to a victim who said the former high school wrestling coach abused him as a boy, US media reported.
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Hastert pleaded guilty to structuring, or withdrawing large amounts of money in small amounts to avoid detection and then using the cash to pay off one of his victims.
In addition to his sentence, Judge Thomas Durkin ordered Hastert to undergo sex offender treatment and pay $250,000 (£171,000) to a crime victims’ fund. Durkin added: “Some conduct is unforgivable no matter how old it is”.
The judge in Hastert’s case, Thomas Durkin, called Hastert a “serial child molester” during sentencing and asked him directly whether he had sexually abused certain individuals.
Jolene Burdge also took the stand to testify on behalf of her brother, Stephen Reinboldt, who was allegedly abused by Hastert and died of AIDS in 1995.
Hastert acknowledged in court this morning that he abused some boys while he was the wrestling coach at Yorkville High School, decades ago.
“Individual A”, under the name of James Doe, filed suit for $1.8 million in Kendall County court on Monday of this week.
Cross, whose brother is former Illinois House Republican leader Tom Cross, said in court that Hastert fondled him on a locker room table after practice. His attorney requested probation, claiming the 74-year-old was “deeply ashamed” of his actions and in poor health. The hearings so far have been relatively calm, said The Washington Post’s Matt Zapotosky, but with the threat of jail time and the judge’s decision to allow victims to testify, the final one proved dramatic. “What I did was wrong and I regret it”, Hastert said after being pressed by the judge and finally admitting the abuse.
“I can’t sentence you for being a child molester”, the judge said due to the the statute of limitations having passed. They also cited his health, saying a blood infection almost killed him in November and that a stroke has limited his mobility. He says Hastert paid $1.7 million out of $3.5 million in “compensation”.
Scott Eisen/AP Tom Cross, Scott’s older brother, is a political protégé of Dennis Hastert.
“I looked up to coach Hastert”, he said.
When asked if he had ever sexually abused Cross, Hastert reportedly said that he did not remember the incident.
That year, Cross said, he found himself alone with Hastert in the wrestling team’s locker room, which was separate from the school’s other athletic facilities.
Hastert did not react to Burdge’s words.
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Cross, now 53, spoke in the courtroom about his childhood sexual abuse encounters with Hastert and that years later he sought professional help from the pain. The charges, which came down in May and Hastert admitted to in October, carried a five-year maximum sentence.
