Former House Speaker, “Serial Child Molester,” Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison
By Natasha Korecki. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Wednesday after a dramatic hearing in which a judge deemed him a “serial child molester” and victims tearfully testified that he forever altered their lives.
“Some conduct is unforgivable no matter how old it is,” U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin told Hastert in a lengthy statement at the hearing.
Durkin called it “deplorable” that Hastert lied to the FBI during an initial investigation that ultimately led to a felony charge that Hastert broke federal law on reporting cash transactions while paying hush money to a former student at a school where he was a coach. Durkin also said it was “unconscionable” that Hastert initially accused the former student — known in the case as Individual A — of extortion, leading the FBI to begin investigating the victim.
“You set him up,” Durkin told Hastert, who has admitted to sexually abusing teenage boys when he was a high school teacher and wrestling coach more than three decades ago.
Durkin upbraided Hastert for trying to say the conduct against Individual A was “ambiguous.” (Read more from “Former House Speaker Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison” HERE)
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A Look at the Men Accusing Hastert of Sexual Abuse
By Michael Tarm. Individual A was 14 when Hastert abused him, according to court documents filed by the government earlier this month. Hastert would have been in his 20s or 30s . . .
Individual B was also 14 when he says Hastert abused him. It happened when he was alone in the locker room with Hastert after a workout. He told prosecutors Hastert offered him a massage, telling him it would help “loosen him up.” Hastert then “performed a sexual act” on him, the court documents said . . .
Individual C had just stepped out of a locker room shower when Hastert offered him a massage. He didn’t think it strange at first. But when his towel came off, Hastert brushed his hand against the boy’s genitals. “Individual C recalls that it was ‘very weird’ and made him uncomfortable,” according to the court papers. But Individual C wasn’t sure the touching was intentional. (Read more from “A Look at the Men Accusing Hastert of Sexual Abuse” HERE)
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