In a court filing, prosecutors from the Justice Department alleged on Friday that former Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert abused four young boys in his time as a wrestling coach in Yorkville, Illinois. Prosecutors recommended that he be forced to serve up to six months in prison when sentenced on April 27.
Former US House speaker Dennis Hastert molested four boys, prosecutors say https://t.co/2TuDrBijdb
— The Guardian (@guardian) April 9, 2016
Former US house speaker 'abused at least four boys' https://t.co/qZtLo6MUPY
— The Independent (@Independent) April 9, 2016
Hastert, 74, committed bank fraud as part of a plan to pay hush money to someone he allegedly abused when the victim was 14 years old, per the prosecutors. In October, he pleaded guilty to a single count of structuring bank withdrawals illegally.
The newly released court files detail the acts that Hastert allegedly committed in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s at Yorkville High School, one hour from Chicago.
[gview file=”https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2798113/Hastert.pdf” save=”1″]
According to NBC News, prosecutors said “the actions at the core of this case took place not on the defendant’s national public stage but in his private one-on-one encounters in an empty locker room and a motel room with minors that violated the special trust between those young boys and their coach.”
Read the court filing with prosecutors' position on the Dennis Hastert sentencing https://t.co/OoNvdb0uRT pic.twitter.com/IBloxA2vPu
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) April 9, 2016
As stated by the court filing, Dennis Hastert sexually abused Stephen Reinboldt throughout the student’s time in high school, from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, his sister and others told prosecutors. Reinboldt passed away in 1995.
Prosecutors: Dennis Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million to victim he sexually abused when victim was 14 years old https://t.co/ZSlmRW9Su3
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) April 9, 2016
He gave another a boy a massage in the school’s locker room before performing an unspecified sex act on him. In another case, prosecutors said that Hastert massaged another boy’s groin region upon asking him to stay in his hotel room during a wrestling camp.
“Defendant used his position of trust as a teacher and coach to touch a child’s genitals and then undress and ask the child for a back massage in a motel room,” the prosecutors wrote of that specific incident. “There is no ambiguity; defendant sexually abused Individual A.”
“He made them feel alone, ashamed, guilty and devoid of dignity,” the court filing added. “While defendant achieved great success, reaping all the benefits that went with it, these boys struggled, and all are still struggling now with what defendant did to them.”
Prosecutors stated that Dennis Hastert’s life had been “marred by stunning hypocrisy.”