Dennis Hastert, former U.S. House speaker disgraced by sex abuse allegations, dies at 84

A major political force in Washington who fell from grace amid child sex abuse allegations, former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert died of natural causes in his Kendall County home Saturday at the age of 84.

The Aurora native rose from the Illinois House of Representatives to a U.S. congressman and later to U.S. speaker of the House. But his conviction in 2016 for financial misconduct as part of a plan to pay hush money led to explosive revelations in federal court that he sexually abused teenage boys in the 1970s while he was a wrestling coach and teacher at Yorkville High School. Hastert was sentenced to 15 months.

The man who was once second in line to the presidency couldn’t be prosecuted for sex abuse because the statute of limitation for those crimes had passed a decade earlier.

Hastert died in his Plano home, where he was in hospice care, the Kendall County coroner’s office said.

During his sentencing in 2016, Judge Thomas Durkin called Hastert a “serial child molester” at the end of a two-hour hearing that revealed the brother of former state House GOP leader Tom Cross was among Hastert’s victims.

“Nothing is more stunning than having ‘serial child molester’ and ‘speaker of the house’ in the same sentence,” Durkin said during sentencing.

Hastert used a walker that day to stand at a podium and admit he was “deeply ashamed.” He apologized to his victims, the government, his family and friends and “the people of the United States.”

But the former House speaker tried to label the abuse by saying he “mistreated” victims. Durkin wouldn’t allow such a blanket term and asked specifically about Scott Cross, one of his victims, who at age 53 described Hastert’s actions to the judge in graphic, emotional detail.

“Did you sexually abuse Mr. Cross?” Durkin asked.

“I don’t remember doing that, but I accept his statement,” Hastert said.

Durkin asked about another victim, and Hastert admitted to the abuse. When the judge asked about the late Yorkville High School wrestling team student equipment manager Stephen Reinboldt, another victim, Hastert told the judge, “It was a different situation, sir.”

After the judge offered to let him elaborate, Hastert huddled with his lawyer and simply admitted to the abuse.

‘I think of Stevie every day’

Reinboldt’s younger sister, Jolene Burdge, came forward in June 2015 to say Reinboldt, by then deceased, had told her in 1979 after she graduated from Yorkville High School that Hastert had sexually abused him during his high school years.

Burdge’s public recollection of that conversation and a confrontation she had with Hastert after her brother’s funeral in 1995 lent credence to other survivor stories.

Burdge, who now lives in Montana, spent Monday fielding calls and messages from friends and family after Hastert’s death.

“I have a lot of mixed feelings,” she said. “I thought that I would feel a lot more relief and final closure. But it will never make up for what he did to Steve and our family and all the other families.”

Burdge said she has tried over the years as a person of faith to forgive Hastert but added, “I think of Stevie every day.”

Burdge was eight years behind her older brother in school, in the class of 1979. She was a cheerleader and even cheered for Hastert’s wrestling team. Finding out what happened behind the scenes was wrenching, she said.

“He was a good guy in school — everybody loved him,” she said. “It was just very devastating, for me included, when we found out.

“I completely understand why [Steve] kept it a secret. There was no one who would have ever believed him.”

One victim who came forward to authorities said Hastert put a La-Z-Boy–type recliner in direct view of the shower stalls in the Yorkville High School locker room where he sat while the boys showered.

Hastert’s suspect bank withdrawals

When a bank first questioned Hastert about his suspicious bank withdrawals, Hastert lied and claimed he was using the money to buy stocks and antique cars. He later told authorities he was the victim of an extortion plot by someone later labeled as “Individual A.” He helped federal authorities secretly record two phone conversations with Individual A in March 2015.

But authorities began to doubt the claim and confronted Individual A. That’s when Hastert’s dark secrets began to spill out.

Hastert left a federal prison in Minnesota in June 2017 after 13 months. He also was ordered to participate in a sex offender treatment program.

Illinois in 2017 passed a measure eliminating statutes of limitations for all child sex abuse crimes, citing Hastert as a reason for the needed change. The bill was pushed by then-Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

Prior to the criminal case that stained his legacy, Hastert was known largely for being the longest-serving Republican House speaker, holding that post from 1999 until 2007. He was elected speaker after Newt Gingrich lost support, in part, because of an ethics violation and because Republicans had lost support in their last election.

After President George W. Bush won the White House, Hastert helped the president pass his legislative priorities.

Hastert was born on Jan. 2, 1942, in Aurora, but considered himself a “true son of Kendall County,” according to an Illinois House resolution passed in 2008 when Hastert left Congress. It was sponsored by then-Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan and Tom Cross. Those revelations had not yet come to the forefront.

“The ‘Denny’ who became a familiar figure to television audiences around the world started out as a carrier of 100-pound feed bags for the agricultural supply business that his family owned and operated,” the resolution said. It went on to call Hastert “both a teacher and a maker of history,” and said he “successfully mentored” the wrestling team, the Foxes, to a state championship in 1975.

Ascent to Congress

Hastert spent three terms in the Illinois House before replacing U.S. Rep. John E. Grotberg after health concerns forced him to step down. He won his seat in 1994, in a district that had been led by a Democrat for more than 30 years.

The resolution lauded his work in the development of alternative energy sources, “the war on drugs” and American health care. He also led a legislative effort to pass the federal Patients’ Bill of Rights.

After leaving Congress, Hastert led the creation of the J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government and Public Policy at Wheaton College, the college he graduated from in 1964. Wheaton College scrubbed Hastert from the college after his indictment. Yorkville High School did the same. And a portrait of Hastert was removed from the U.S Capitol after he pleaded guilty.

Despite his tarnished legacy, U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., on Monday said he was saddened by Hastert’s passing and said the two had developed a good bipartisan working relationship in the House.

“Our years serving together also demonstrated that members of Congress with different political philosophies could still find areas of common ground and work together,” Davis said in a statement. “I extend my condolences to his family and loved ones during this time of loss.”

Contributing: Mohammad Samra