http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DENNIS_HASTERT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-27-12-57-53 CHICAGO (AP) -- Dennis Hastert, the Republican who for eight years presided over the House and was second in the line of succession to the presidency, was sentenced Wednesday to more than a year in prison in the hush-money case that included accusations he sexually abused teenagers while coaching high school wrestling.
Judge Thomas M. Durkin also ordered Hastert to undergo sex-offender treatment, spend two years on supervised release after 15 months behind bars and pay a $250,000 fine to a crime victims' fund.
In explaining his punishment, the judge called Hastert a "serial child molester" and described as "unconscionable" his attempt to accuse one of the victims of extortion.
Hastert becomes one of the highest-ranking politicians in American history to be sentenced to prison. He pleaded guilty last fall to violating banking law as he sought to pay $3.5 million to someone referred to in court papers only as Individual A to keep the sex abuse secret.
Earlier in the hearing, a former athlete who said he was molested by Hastert decades ago told the courtroom that he was "devastated" by the abuse.
GOOD! Tom Delay wrote a letter how Hasert was such a fine man. Went to church blah, blah, blah. Delay is a horrible human to back this guy. Anyone who sent or signed that letter should be sent to the place where they need ice water. I think 41 other former congressmen backed him.
