Man Who Says Dennis Hastert Sexually Abused Him Will Testify At Sentencing

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Mar 23, 2016 10:40PM

A man who claims he was sexually abused by the former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert decades ago is reportedly planning to testify at Hastert's upcoming sentencing. Hastert is being sentenced on charges that he paid another alleged sexual abuse victim "hush money" to cover it up years ago.

Hastert pled guilty to federal bank fraud charges last year after he allegedly paid over $1.7 million in blackmail money to an unnamed individual to cover up past sexual misconduct.

That individual, identified as Individual A in court hearings, knew Hastert when he was a high school wrestling coach from Yorkville, Illinois before his career in politics took off. In a Tuesday hearing, prosecutors told reporters they had interviewed another victim, Individual D, who is now planning to testify. It would be the first time someone has testified in open court about being abused by Hastert.

Also, a woman who says her brother was a victim wants to testify at his sentencing. Hastert's lawyers object to plans for the individuals to testify, but U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin, who is presiding over the sentencing, said he would allow it, according to the Tribune. Hastert's sentencing has been delayed several times and is set for April 27.

"If Individual D wants to come in and talk about being a victim of sexual abuse, he's entitled to do so because that informs my decision about the history and characteristics of the defendant," Durkin said, according to the court transcript. "It's that simple."

Individual D's identity is not public information. However, the Tribune believes that the sister of another victim who also plans to testify is Jolene Burdge, of Billings, Montana. She has told reporters that the FBI interviewed her about Hastert. She told them her brother, Stephen Reinboldt, had a sexual relationship with him for years as a student at Yorkville High School. Reinboldt died in 1995 of health complications due to AIDS.

Hastert "took [Reinboldt's] belief in himself and his kind of right to be a normal person,” Burdge said in an interview with ABC News. “Here was the mentor, the man who was, you know, basically his friend and stepped into that parental role, who was the one who was abusing him… He damaged Steve I think more than any of us will ever know.”