Former speaker Hastert sentenced to more than year in prison

CHICAGO (AP) — Dennis Hastert, the Republican who for eight years presided over the House and was second in the line of succession to the presidency, was sentenced Wednesday to more than a year in prison in the hush-money case that revealed accusations he sexually abused teenagers while coaching high school wrestling.

The case makes the former speaker one of the highest-ranking American politicians ever sentenced to prison. The visibly angry judge repeatedly rebuked the 74-year-old before issuing the 15-month sentence, telling him his abuse devastated the lives of victims and would probably make it harder than ever for parents to trust other adults with their children.

“If Denny Hastert could do it, anyone could do it,” U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin said. “Nothing is more stunning than to have the words ‘serial child molester’ and ‘speaker of the House’ in the same sentence.”

As he did for much of the hearing, Hastert sat unmoving in a wheelchair, peering over the top of his eyeglasses, his hands folded before him.

Earlier this month, prosecutors went into graphic detail about the sex-abuse allegations, even describing how Hastert would sit in a recliner in the locker room with a direct view of the showers. The victims, prosecutors said, were boys between 14 and 17. Hastert was in his 20s and 30s.

When the judge asked if Hastert wanted to make a statement, Hastert pushed himself up, grabbed a walker and moved slowly to a podium.

“I am deeply ashamed to be standing here,” he said, reading from a statement. “I know why I am here … I mistreated some of the athletes that I coached.”

He added, “They looked up to me, and I took advantage of them.”

Hastert pleaded guilty last fall to violating banking law as he sought to pay $3.5 million to someone referred to in court papers only as Individual A to keep the sex abuse secret.

The judge devoted many of his remarks to describing how Hastert lied to FBI agents when they first approached him about the massive cash withdrawals. Hastert told investigators Individual A was making a bogus claim of sex abuse to extort him for money.

“Accusing Individual A of extortion was unconscionable,” Durkin said. “He was a victim (of abuse) decades ago and you tried to make him a victim again.”

Prosecutors have described the payments as something akin to an out-of-court settlement. Individual A wanted to bring in lawyers and put the agreement in writing, but it was Hastert, authorities said, who refused to involve anyone else.

Hastert, the judge said, thought he could use his elevated status to make federal investigators believe his lie.

“If he had told the truth, I’m not sure we would be here today,” Durkin said about Hastert. “Instead, you lied and here we are.”

While the maximum sentence available for the banking violation was five years in prison, federal guidelines recommended probation to six months in prison. Judges rarely go outside the guidelines and usually do so only when the behavior underlying the crime — in this case sex abuse — is especially egregious.

In addition to the prison term, the judge also ordered Hastert to undergo sex-offender treatment, spend two years on supervised release from prison and pay a $250,000 fine to a crime victims’ fund.

Authorities say Hastert abused at least four students throughout his years at Yorkville High School about 45 miles southwest of Chicago. He will report to prison at a later date.

Before Hastert spoke, a former wrestler delivered a statement. Taking a deep breath as he started describing what he called his “dark secret,” 53-year-old Scott Cross frequently stopped and struggled to regain his composure. A court official walked up and handed him a box of tissues.

“I looked up to coach Hastert,” he said. After Hastert abused him in the locker room, he said, “I was devastated. I felt very alone.”

The man, now in his 50s, said he sought professional help and had trouble sleeping as a result of the abuse.

Hastert sat a few feet from the man, turning his head slightly — but never looking directly at him.

In his remarks, the former congressman never referred to sexual abuse. When he stopped reading, the judge asked him directly: Did Hastert, in fact, abuse the wrestler who spoke in court?

“I don’t remember that,” Hastert responded. “I accept his statement.”

Moments before the former wrestler spoke, a woman who said her brother was sexually abused by Hastert told the courtroom that her sibling felt “betrayed, ashamed and embarrassed.”

Jolene Burdge said Hastert abused her brother, Stephen Reinboldt, throughout his years at Yorkville High School, where Hastert was a history teacher and coach from 1965-81. Reinboldt died of AIDS in 1995.

“When a man is sexually assaulted, it means they weren’t strong enough to fight back,” she said. “He wasn’t strong enough.”

She added, “You took his innocence and turned it against him.”

She turned toward Hastert and said, “Don’t be a coward, Mr. Hastert. Tell the truth.”

By helping to reveal the sex abuse, she added, “I hope I have been your worst nightmare.”