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Former
speaker
Hastert
sentenced
to more
than
year in
prison
By
MICHAEL
TARM
Associated
Press
CHICAGO
- 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 that
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
that
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 says
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 to
1981.
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."
The
judge
also
asked
Hastert
directly
if he
had
abused
Reinbolt.
Hastert
first
answered:
"That
was
different
situation,
sir."
After
Hastert
consulted
his
lawyer,
the
judge
repeated
the
question.
Hastert
paused
and
said,
"Yes."
Defense
attorneys
were
seeking
probation
on the
grounds
that
Hastert
has
already
paid a
high
price in
disgrace.
They
also
cited
his
health,
saying a
blood
infection
nearly
killed
him in
November
and that
a stroke
has
limited
his
mobility.
Assistant
U.S.
Attorney
Steven
Block
called
Hastert's
conduct
"horrendous."
But
because
of the
statute
of
limitations,
he could
only be
charged
with a
financial
crime
related
to the
payments
he was
making.
Even
though
the
banking
charge
was
comparatively
minor,
he said,
society
was
better
off now
that
Hastert
had been
unmasked.
"The
defendant
has been
exposed
for who
he is,"
Block
told the
court.
Defense
attorney
Thomas
Green
alluded
several
times to
Hastert's
mental
state,
saying
he was
not sure
if
Hastert
fully
comprehended
what he
had
done.
"Aspects
of Mr.
Hastert
life
have
been
compartmentalized
...
walled
off," he
said.
He urged
the
judge to
take
into
consideration
the
"entire
arc" of
Hastert's
life,
including
his
efforts
to seek
tougher
drug
laws.
Hastert,
he said
"is the
single
most
important
leader
in the
fight
against
drugs."
The
attorney
noted
that 41
letters
of
support
were
forwarded
to the
judge,
but
dozens
of
letters
were
withdrawn
after
old
friends
and
acquaintances
learned
they
would be
put on
the
public
record.
"The
withdrawn
letters
exemplify
... the
abandonment"
of
Hastert,
he said.
At the
end of
the
hearing,
Durkin
paused,
looked
around
the room
said the
case had
been
"horrible"
for the
victims,
their
families
and the
nation
as
whole.
Before
standing
up and
walking
away, he
said, "I
never
want to
see a
case
like
this
again."
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