Dennis HastertFederal Judge Thomas Durkin called Hastert a "serial child molester" and imposed a longer sentence than the one of up to six months which had been recommended by the federal prosecutor. Durkin also rejected claims by Hastert's lawyers that the 74-year-old didn't understand the banking law he violated when making payments to one of his teen accusers.
"Nothing is more disturbing than having 'serial child molester' and 'speaker of the House' in the same sentence," Durkin said.
Hastert, a one-time wrestler and coach who has suffered a stroke and other health issues in recent months, entered court in a wheelchair and needed help standing to address the judge, where he admitted abusing some athletes when he was a high school wrestling coach in Illinois before he began his political career.
"I want to apologize to the boys I mistreated," Hastert said. "They looked (up) at me and I took advantage of them."
One former athlete who had been until now identified as "Individual D" testified that he was abused by Hastert, describing a locker room molestation when he was 17 years old.
"Judge, I wanted you to know the pain and suffering he caused me then, and the pain and suffering he causes me today," said Scott Cross, now 53, the brother of prominent Illinois politician and Hastert protégé Tom Cross. (In most cases, InterMat would not identify the victim of a sexual assault. However, Scott Cross has been widely named in the media because he openly revealed his identity in court documents and in the courtroom Wednesday.)
Durkin made clear he could not sentence Hastert "for being a child molester" and that his sentence would "pale in comparison" to what the former lawmaker would have faced had he been convicted of state charges for sexual abuse of a child.
Under Illinois statute, Hastert would have faced between 3 and 7 years in state prison if convicted of a single count of sexual misconduct with a minor. However, the statute of limitations on sexual assault cases from decades ago had long expired.
Hastert was first investigated by the FBI and IRS for making sizeable withdrawals from his bank account in 2013; federal officials were concerned that he might be the victim of an extortion plot. He was interviewed in December 2014, telling investigators that he was making withdrawals because he did not trust the U.S. banking system. In May 2015, Hastert was indicted on one count of seeking to skirt bank reporting requirements and one count of lying to the FBI about the reason for his cash withdrawals. (The accusation about lying was later dropped.)
In October 2015, Hastert pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to withdrawing funds from several bank accounts in increments less than $10,000 to evade bank reporting rules. The money -- approximately $1.7 million -- was paid to someone from his Hastert's hometown of Yorkville, Ill., identified in federal documents only as "Individual A" but widely reported to be a former student at Yorkville High School. The school, located about 50 miles southwest of Chicago, is where Hastert taught history and coached wrestling from 1965 to 1981 before entering politics.
This past month, a total of five individuals came forward to state that they were molested by Hastert while he was coach at Yorkville High.
Since the indictment and subsequent events, Hastert has suffered a fall from grace as a widely respected political leader and major figure in U.S. amateur wrestling who had been often seen at significant events such as the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships and the Midlands post-Christmas tournament held at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois outside Chicago. Hastert's name was stripped from what had been the J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government and Public Policy at Wheaton College. In addition, Hastert's name has been taken off what had been the Denny Hastert Yorkville Invitational, one of the most popular wrestling club tournaments in Illinois. What's more, a 1942 Lincoln Zephyr once owned by Hastert was removed from public display at the Belvidere Oasis service plaza on the I-90 Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (formerly Northwest Tollway) which links Chicago to Rockford, Ill. and south-central Wisconsin.
As of this writing, Hastert remains in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he was inducted as an Outstanding American in 2000. However, some within the wrestling community, including long-time sports columnist Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman, the daily newspaper of Oklahoma City -- along with SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests -- had asked the Hall to remove the former wrestler/coach before today's sentence had been announced.
Today, the Hall issued the following statement:
"The National Wrestling Hall of Fame stated that, following Wednesday's sentencing of Dennis Hastert, its ethics committee will review Hastert's inclusion in the Hall of Fame, and present its findings and recommended course of action to the Board of Governors.
"The ethics committee reviews cases where an honoree has acted in a manner considered detrimental to the ideals and objectives or contrary to the mission statement of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame," said Lee Roy Smith, Executive Director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
"The National Wrestling Hall of Fame will make an official statement regarding Mr. Hastert once the Board of Governors has reached its decision."
Born not far from Yorkville in Plano, Ill. in 1942, J. Dennis Hastert was a member of the wrestling team at Wheaton College, a private, four-year school in the western suburbs of Chicago, in the early 1960s. He then taught government and history at Yorkville High, and coached wrestling, taking his team to an Illinois state championship in 1976. His coaching record also included three runners-up and a third place finish, according to his National Wrestling Hall of Fame biography, where he was inducted as an Outstanding American in 2000. Four years earlier, Hastert was honored for his efforts and contributions to wrestling as the recipient of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's Order of Merit .
Hastert had served three terms in the Illinois General Assembly before being elected to the House of Representatives in 1986. In 1999, the six-term congressman was elected Speaker of the House after the incumbent Speaker Newt Gingrich stepped down, and his intended replacement, Bob Livingston of Louisiana, gave up the position before he ever assumed it after admitting to having conducted adulterous affairs. Hastert left Congress in 2007.
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