‘Serial child molester’ Denny Hastert gets 15 months prison after confirming he sexually abused boys – while brave victim steps forward to detail locker room attack and reveals himself as the younger brother of disgraced Speaker’s protegé
Scott Cross, brother of former GOP leader Tom Cross, identified himself as one of the five teenage boys Dennis Hastert ‘abused as wrestling coach’
Cross, now 53, told the jury he was 17 when coach Hastert removed his pants and performed a sex act on him after practice
Until now, Cross and three other alleged victims have been anonymous
His brother Rep Tom Cross (Illinois GOP leader 2002-2013) ‘was Hastert’s political protege’ but ‘knew nothing about his brother’s abuse’
Hastert, 74, pleaded guilty last year to paying $1.7m hush money
But he dodged abuse questions until Wednesday, he said: ‘Yes I did it’
Due to statute of limitations, Hastert is not charged with sexual abuse
By MIA DE GRAAF
DAILYMAIL.COM
27 April 2016
Disgraced former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has been sentenced to 15 months in jail for paying $1.7 million in hush money to silence one of the five teenage boys he sexually abused when he was a high school wrestling coach.
The 74-year-old was sentenced in a Chicago court on Wednesday after one of his victims identified himself as the brother of a former GOP leader – who was Hastert’s political protege.
Scott Cross, the younger brother of Rep Tom Cross (R-Illinois) who led the state’s GOP from 2002 to 2013, was captain of Hastert’s wrestling team at Illinois’s Yorkville High School in the 1970s.
In previous hearings Cross – known simply as Individual D throughout the trial – told the jury he was 17 when Hastert made him sit on a table to be massaged, then removed his pants and performed an unspecified sex act.
‘It’s important for me to tell the truth finally about what happened to me. I could no longer remain silent,’ Cross told the court on Wednesday as he revealed his identity.
Hastert then took to the stand to admit for the first time ever that he sexually abused boys on his team decades before becoming the longest-running GOP House Speaker in US history.
He is now one of the highest-profile political leaders ever to be jailed in the United States.
The Rest…HERE
