By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
Capping a shameful chapter for Congress, a federal judge in Chicago on Wednesday sentenced former House speaker J. Dennis Hastert to 15 months in federal prison, a punishment that was more severe than what prosecutors had recommended and one that clearly took into account the sexual abuse allegations, the Washington Post reports. .
Hastert, 74, a former wrestling coach in Illinois who rose through the ranks in Congress, told U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin that he was “deeply ashamed” to be in court and acknowledged that he “mistreated some of the athletes I coached,” according to a report by Matt Zapotosky of the Post.
Hastert, 74, who arrived in court in a wheelchair, did not plead guilty to any sex crimes, the Post reports The statute of limitations had run out.
But those allegations were an integral part of his crime.
He pleaded guilty to withdrawing money in increments to avoid having to report it. The money was used to buy the silence of one of people he had sexually abused as a youth.
