By John Dempsey, WLS-AM News
(CHICAGO) A new report says at least four people have accused disgraced former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert of sexually abusing them as teenagers, when Hastert was a wrestling coach at Yorkville high school in the 60’s and 70’s.
The Chicago Tribune spent months investigating Hastert’s background after federal authorities charged him last year with violating U.S. bank withdrawal requirements, to pay hush money to an unnamed “Individual A”, to cover up what an indictment described as Hastert’s past misconduct against the person. Now the Tribune says it’s investigation has uncovered the identities of Individual A and another person known as Individual D, who may decide to testify at Hastert’s sentencing hearing later this month. Individual A is not planning on coming forward, but his wife did describe him to the Tribune as a “victim.” The Tribune is not naming either person.
The Tribune reports also provides a glimpse into how authorities likely came to investigate Hastert. The report says in 2014, police found Individual A parked in a van with a broken window on the side of a road after midnight. Authorities discovered the man had marijuana and related paraphernalia, along with $24, 400 in cash. Later that year, FBI agents first questioned Hastert about payments to the man.
The 74 year old Hastert will be sentenced in Chicago Federal Court April 27th after pleading guilty to an illegal bank structuring charge. The Tribune also says it has evidence that Hastert abused a third person, whose identity the newspaper has not been able to determine. The fourth person is Stephen Reinboldt, who died of AIDS in 1995. His sister Jolene Burdge of Montana tells the Tribune how her brother told her of Hastert’s past abuse when he came out of the closet to her in the summer of 1980. The Tribune quotes another man, Kevin Ross, who says Reinboldt told him the same story about Hastert in 1974. In all four of the cases, law enforcement sources tell the Tribune the victim abuse allegations against Hastert are credible.
Read the entire article from the Chicago Tribune here.
On Wednesday Hastert’s attorneys filed court papers in which the former Speaker says he is “profoundly sorry” for the harm he caused others decades ago. But the statement, in which Hastert asks Judge Thomas Durkin to sentence him to probation instead of prison, stops short of admitting any specific misconduct.
@ 2016 WLS-AM News
