Ex-US speaker Hastert sentenced to 15 months

CHICAGO

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert departs the federal courthouse Wednesday, April 27, 2016, in Chicago, after his sentencing on federal banking charges which he pled guilty to last year - AP photo

Dennis Hastert, the Republican who presided over the U.S. House of Representatives for eight years and was once second in the line of succession to the U.S. presidency was sentenced on April 27 to more than a year in prison in the hush-money case that revealed accusations he sexually abused teenagers while coaching high school wrestling.

The case made the former speaker one of the highest-ranking American politicians ever sentenced to prison. 
Hastert was sentenced by a federal judge in Chicago to 15 months in prison, followed by two years of probation and sex-offender treatment for a financial crime related to his sexual abuse of high school wrestlers he coached decades ago. 

“If Denny Hastert could do it, anyone could do it,’” U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin said. “Nothing is more stunning than to have the words ‘serial child molester’ and ‘speaker of the House’ in the same sentence.”

As he did for much of the hearing, Hastert sat unmoving in a wheelchair, peering over the top of his eyeglasses, his hands folded before him.

Hastert, who is known for his lobbying activities on several issues, also lobbied for Turkey, particularly on Armenian Genocide claims starting from the early 2000s.