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 U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Durkin called Hastert a serial
sex abuser in handing down the sentence, which was longer than the
zero to six months recommended by federal prosecutors. Durkin said
the sentence would have been even longer if it weren't for Hastert's
age, 74, and poor health.
Frail and clinging to a walker, Hastert apologized for sexually
abusing boys when he was a teacher and coach in his hometown of
Yorkville.
"I'm sorry to those I hurt and misled. I wanted to apologize for the
boys I mistreated," Hastert told Durkin at the two-hour sentencing
hearing in federal court in Chicago.
The judge asked him if he acknowledged sexual abuse of his victims
and Hastert said he did.
Hastert, the longest-serving Republican House speaker in history and
a successful international lobbyist who was earning $75,000 a month,
pleaded guilty last October to the crime of structuring. That
involves withdrawing a large sum of money in small increments to
avoid detection.
 He needed the cash after he reached a secret agreement with one of
his five sexual abuse victims to pay him $3.5 million in
compensation for pain and suffering.
The judge said that even though Hastert could not be charged with
sex abuse because the statute of limitations had run out, he could
take the conduct into consideration at sentencing.
"Some conduct is unforgivable no matter how old it is. The abuse was
40 years ago but the damage lasts today," Durkin said.
Hastert's defense had asked for a probation-only sentence, arguing
that his shame and humiliation were punishment enough. His portrait
has been removed from the Capitol, the seat of the U.S. Congress,
and his alma mater Wheaton College stripped his name from a public
policy center.
"Nothing is more stunning than having the words 'serial child
molester' and 'speaker of the house' in the same sentence," Durkin
acknowledged. But he said that an extremely aggravating factor in
the sentencing was that Hastert lied to federal agents about the
money and falsely claimed that the victim was extorting him. He said
Hastert must serve two years of probation and go through
sex-offender treatment after release, and also pay a $250,000 fine.
Scott Cross, 53, one of Hastert's victims, and Jolene Burdge, the
sister of another victim who is deceased, both spoke during the
hearing.
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"Don't be a coward, Mr. Hastert," Burdge said. "Tell the truth. What
you did wasn't misconduct. It was sexual abuse of a minor."
Cross, the first victim to ever speak publicly about the abuse,
choked up as he described how Hastert molested him in the wrestling
locker room in 1972.
"As a 17-year-old boy I was devastated," he told the judge. "I tried
to figure out why Coach Hastert had singled me out. I felt very
alone and tremendously embarrassed."
Hastert, a conservative who trumpeted his honesty and small-town
values when he was in Washington, D.C., said he did not contest
Cross's statement.
But his defense said the former politician had forgotten the
incident from 1972 and had even approached Cross's older brother,
Tom Cross, former Illinois House Republican leader, and asked him to
write a letter of support to the judge.
The sex abuse victim who received money from Hastert has not been
named publicly. On Monday, using the name James Doe, he sued Hastert
for $1.8 million, saying he had received only $1.7 million of the
promised compensation.
Hastert had been out on bail pending sentencing. When there is room
for him, he will report to a federal prison where he can get medical
treatment after suffering a life-threatening blood infection last
year.
(Editing by James Dalgleish)
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