Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Wednesday was sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay $250,000 to a victims’ fund in a hush money case that revealed he was being accused of sexually abusing young boys as a teacher in IL.
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Hastert, the longest-serving Republican House speaker in history and a successful worldwide lobbyist, last October pleaded guilty to structuring, which is withdrawing a large sum of money in small increments to avoid detection.
Hastert also admitted that he had molested boys in the past.
Judge Thomas Durkin said on Wednesday that Hastert should likewise experience sex guilty party treatment, serve two years of probation after his discharge and pay $250,000 to an asset for casualties.
A woman who says her brother was sexually abused by Dennis Hastert when the former U.S. House Speaker was an IL high school wrestling coach has told a courtroom that he felt “betrayed, ashamed and embarrassed”.
After the sentencing hearing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of IL made a statement, saying “With this case, the Office sought to hold Mr. Hastert accountable for the crimes he committed that could still be prosecuted: illegally structuring cash withdrawals and lying to the government about his motive for engaging in that activity”.
Hastert becomes one of the highest-ranking politicians in American history to be sentenced to prison.
Scott Cross was on the varsity wrestling team at Yorkville High School when Hastert was a coach in the 1970s.
She also said, “I hope I have been your worst nightmare”. “I know somebody was trying to extort him for money and instead of punishing that person, why I guess they’ve been given immunity so they can cook up some phony crime of structuring and go after Denny Hastert and try and hurt his reputation and everything”.
In October, Hastert, 74, pleaded guilty to withdrawing cash in small increments to evade bank reporting laws as part of a scheme during which he paid $1.7 million in hush money to a teenager he molested decades ago.
Moments before the man took the stand, a woman who says her brother was sexually abused by Hastert told the courtroom that he felt “betrayed, ashamed and embarrassed”. Prosecutors say Hastert sexually abused at least four students when taught and coached at the school until 1981.
As Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert worked closely with Republican Tom Cross and actually asked him to write a letter of support during his sentencing.
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.
The Associated Press normally does not name sexual abuse victims, but Scott Cross gave the AP permission to publish his name after the hearing.
His sister turned toward Hastert and said, “Don’t be a coward. tell the truth”.
The case hinged on the testimony of Scott Cross, a former Yorkville High School wrestling student and one of Hastert’s accusers. “I could no longer remain silent”, he said. The 53-year-old’s brother is former longtime Illinois House Rep. Tom Cross, who has considered Hastert a political mentor, David reports. I tried to figure out why Coach Hastert had singled me out.
He is not being charged with sexual abuse from when he was a teacher and wrestling coach in Yorkville High School in IL because of the statute of limitations. They also cited his health, saying a blood infection almost killed him in November and that a stroke has limited his mobility.
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The alleged victim, identified in court documents as “Individual A”, is suing Hastert for not paying the full amount agreed upon between the two.
