Page 5 - Aruba Today

U.S. NEWS A5
Report: 4 ‘credible’ sex abuse allegations against Hastert
Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert arrives at the federal
courthouse in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune is citing uniden-
tified law enforcement sources as saying at least four people
have made “credible allegations of sexual abuse” against Hast-
ert.
CHICAGO (AP) — At least
four people have made
“credible allegations of
sexual abuse” against for-
mer U.S. House Speaker
Dennis Hastert, the Chica-
go Tribune reported Thurs-
day, citing unidentified law
enforcement sources.
The newspaper reported
that it had determined the
identities of three accusers,
all of them men whose alle-
gations relate to when they
were teenagers and Hast-
ert was their coach in Illi-
nois. One of them is dead.
The other two accusers
have been described in
court documents only as
Individual A and Individual
D. Individual A declined to
make any comment when
approached by the news-
paper. Individual D spoke
privately to the newspaper,
according to the Tribune.
The newspaper did not
name any of the men who
are still alive, and it said it million to ensure Individ-
did not know the identity of
the fourth accuser.
The now-deceased accus-
er named by the Tribune
had been named previous-
ly by The Associated Press
as Stephen Reinboldt, a
team equipment manager
Friday 8 April 2016

stopped making the pay- ously reported that Hastert ing his deteriorating health
ments in 2014 after the FBI wanted to hide claims he and the steep price they
questioned him about the sexually molested some- say he has already paid in
large cash withdrawals. one. shame and disgrace. Hast-
Keys aspects of the case Recent court documents ert is apologetic and “over-
have been shrouded in indicated that Individual D whelmed by the guilt” of
secrecy, starting with the is leaning toward testifying what he has done, the pa-
May 28, 2015, indictment. at the Republican’s sen- pers said, though the docu-
The seven-page document tencing but has agonized ments offer no details of his
only vaguely hints at Hast- over a final decision. actions.
ert’s motivations for break- In papers filed Wednesday, Prosecutors are expected
ing banking law. Hastert’s lawyers asked to seek at least some prison
The Associated Press and a judge to spare Hastert time this week when they
other media outlets, citing time behind bars and give file their own sentencing
unnamed sources, previ- him probation instead, cit- papers.q
(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
at Yorkville High School,
where Hastert worked as
a teacher and wrestling
coach from 1965 to 1981.
Individual A and Individual
D, the Tribune said, were
popular standout athletes
in Yorkville from well-known
families.
Reinboldt’s sister, Jolene
Burdge, has told the AP
that her brother told her
his first homosexual experi-
ence was with Hastert and
that the sexual abuse last-
ed throughout his time at
Yorkville. Reinboldt died in
1995.
Hastert, 74, was the longest-
serving Republican speak-
er of the House. He retired
from Congress in 2007 after
running the chamber for
eight years.
He is scheduled to be
sentenced April 27. He
pleaded guilty last year
to violating banking laws
while seeking to pay $3.5
ual A stayed quiet about
unspecified past miscon-
duct by Hastert against
that person. According to
court documents, Hastert
managed to pay $1.7 mil-
lion to Individual A in lump
sums of $100,000 cash and