Former House Speaker Hastert Gets 15 Months In Hush Money Case, Admits To Sex Abuse

CHICAGO (CBSNewYork/CBS Chicago/CBS News) -- Calling Dennis Hastert a "serial child molester," a federal judge sentenced the former U.S. House Speaker to 15 months in prison on Wednesday for charges related to sex abuse.

While the statute of limitations has long since run out for any criminal charges related to sexual abuse, Chicago U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin sentenced Hastert Wednesday after admitting trying to skirt banking regulations and conceal hush money payments.

The payments intended to cover up sex abuse allegations from the time he was a high school wrestling coach and teacher in Yorkville, Illinois decades ago.

Federal law requires felony convicts to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence, meaning Hastert would be released from prison after approximately one year and three weeks behind bars.

In addition to the prison sentence, Hastert will be fined $250,000, and must serve two years of supervised release — the federal equivalent of parole — and must participate in a sex offender program after his release from custody.

"Nothing is more stunning than uttering serial child molester and Speaker of the House in the same sentence," Durkin said.

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The judge lamented that he could not sentence Hastert as a sex offender. He noted, if Hastert's sex crimes had come to light when they occurred, he could have been convicted of sexual abuse and spent decades in prison.

"Some conduct is unforgivable no matter how old it is," he said.

Durkin also blasted Hastert for lying to the FBI when he was questioned about the bank withdrawals, and trying to frame one of his victims, identified only as "Individual A," for extortion.

Durkin said it was "unconscionable" for Hastert to tell the FBI that Individual A was extorting him with false allegations of sex abuse.

"You set him up," Durkin said, adding that Individual A might have been forced to endure more suffering because Hastert tried to portray himself as a victim.

Hastert's attorneys had asked Durkin to sentence him to probation only, but Durkin said that would not be appropriate.

Even as Hastert left the federal courthouse, prosecutors said it was very much a case of justice delayed, Derrick Blakley of WBBM-TV, CBS2 Chicago reported.

"I wish Mr. Hastert had been called on the carpet in 1968, and we'd all be better for it," said U.S. Attorney Zach Fardon. "This is imperfect, but it's what we got."

Durkin's ruling came after Hastert admitted for the first time to molesting boys decades ago, and apologized for sexually abusing members of the wrestling team at Yorkville High School when he was a coach and teacher in the 1970s and 80s.

"I am deeply ashamed to be standing before you today," Hastert said. "I know I am here because I mistreated some of my athletes."

"I am sorry to those I hurt. What I did was wrong. I regret it. I took advantage of them," he added.

Hastert also apologized to his victims, their families, the government, his friends, and his former constituents for "subjecting them to everything that's happened."

At the hearing, it was revealed one of the victims was Scott Cross, the brother of former Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross.

"I've had trouble sleeping and working," Cross said, and called the decision to come forward a "huge personal struggle."

Scott Cross, now 53, said he wanted to be part of the wrestling team Hastert coached at Yorkville High School when he was a teen.

"As a high school wrestler, I looked up to Coach Hastert," he said.

He said Hastert took him on trips to wrestling camps, and named him captain of the team, but abused him in his senior year of high school in the 1980s.

"He sexually abused me. I was alone in that locker room. I trusted him," Cross said.

Scott Cross said he had gone to Hastert because he was concerned about making weight for the team. Cross cried audibly as he described how Hastert pulled down his shorts, and began to massage him and touch his penis. He said he ran out of the locker room, but told no one.

"I was embarrassed. I couldn't understand what happened and why," he said.

Cross said he didn't tell his parents about the abuse until last year, when Hastert was prosecuted over hush money payments to another victim.

"I felt what he did to me was my dark secret," he said. "Judge Durkin, I wanted you to know the pain and suffering he caused me then, and today."

Scott Cross's brother, Tom, was the Illinois House Republican leader from 2002 to 2013, and was a former political protégé of Hastert's. In testimony, Scott Cross told the judge he just recently told his parents and his older brother about the abuse, WBBM-TV, CBS2's Jim Williams reported.

Stunningly, Hastert's defense team acknowledged he called Tom Cross to write a letter of support for him before sentencing, CBS Chicago reported. They said Hastert must have compartmentalized the sex abuse he committed, and that's how he managed to ask a victim's brother for his support.

Tom Cross issued a statement on behalf of his family shortly after his brother left the witness stand:

"We are very proud of Scott for having the courage to relive this very painful part of his life in order to ensure that justice is done today. We hope his testimony will provide courage and strength to other victims of other cases of abuse to speak out and advocate for themselves. With his testimony concluded, we ask now that you respect Scott's privacy and that of our family."

Prosecutors at the hearing also called Jolene Burdge, the sister of an alleged Hastert victim who died in 1995. Burdge testified first and read aloud a letter her late brother wrote to their mother five months before he died of AIDS, and she accused Hastert of "sexually molesting" her brother.

"You took Steve's right to develop his sexual identity in a normal, healthy way," Burdge said directly to Hastert, who arrived to court Wednesday in a wheelchair. "Don't be a coward, Mr. Hastert. Tell the truth. What you did wasn't misconduct; it was sexual abuse of a minor."

Admonishing Hastert from the stand, she said, "You were supposed to keep him safe, not violate him," and she continued, "You took his innocence and turned it against him," turning him toward a life of high-risk behavior that eventually killed him.

"I will make you accountable for molesting my brother. I knew your secret and you couldn't bribe your way out," she added.

Admonishing Hastert from the stand, she said, "You were supposed to keep him safe, not violate him," and she continued, "You took his innocence and turned it against him," turning him toward a life of high-risk behavior that eventually killed him.

"I will make you accountable for molesting my brother. I knew your secret and you couldn't bribe your way out," she added.

Hastert, 74, pleaded guilty to violating federal breaking banking laws by withdrawing money in amounts small enough to avoid reporting requirements, in order to pay $3.5 million in hush money to a person identified in court papers only as "Individual A." Hastert allegedly wanted to ensure "Individual A" stayed silent about being abused by Hastert when the victim was only 14 years old.