Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert leaves the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse after being sentenced to 15 months in prison on April 27, 2016.
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While he will spend time in prison, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert is technically not being punished for sexually abusing high school students when he was a wrestling coach decades ago.
The judge quizzed him further about the statement of a now 53-year-old victim, who had spoken at the hearing and claimed Hastert had inappropriately fondled him.
Authorities say Hastert abused at least four students throughout his years at Yorkville High School about 45 miles southwest of Chicago.
Individual A had accused Hastert of inappropriately touching him decades ago when Hastert was a coach.
Federal prosecutors say Hastert paid the man a total of 1.7 million Dollars – a little less than half the agreed amount – between 2010 and 2014 in regular payments that only stopped when the government started investigating him. The judge asked Hastert, point-blank, if he had sexually abused three wrestlers – including Scott Cross, the brother of one of his political proteges, former Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross and the late Stephen Reinboldt.
Hastert’s teacher’s pension was one of three public pensions he received, and it was the smallest at $16,000 a year.
In explaining his punishment, the judge called Hastert a “serial child molester” and described as “unconscionable” his attempt to accuse one of the victims of extortion.
The man, now in his 50s, said Hastert abused him while they were alone in a locker room. “They looked at me, and I took advantage of them”. The Wall Street Journal cited that Hastert is now in poor health following a stroke and serious infection.
Looking through eyeglasses at his written notes, the white-haired Hastert apologized for mistreating some of his athletes, but as in past apologies conveyed through his attorneys, he didn’t specify what it was he’d done. When she had confronted Hastert about the abuse at her brother’s funeral in 1995, he treated her like an “insignificant annoyance”, she said. After a few minutes, Cross said Hastert “pulled down my shorts and grabbed my penis and began to rub me”.It was not clear whether Hastert would make a statement at the sentencing and, if so, if it would include an apology. “Instead, you lied and here we are”.
“All of us have been inspired by the strength and bravery of the victims and witnesses who came forward in the most challenging of circumstances”, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of IL said. He added that the family hopes the testimony will encourage other victims of abuse to speak out. However, Hastert will not be charged for sexual abuse as they have already expired under Illinois’ statute of limitations.
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The pre-sentence investigation report to the judge detailed that Hastert had molested or inappropriately touched five teenagers affiliated with the team he coached.
