https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Hastert
John Dennis Hastert (/หhรฆstษrt/; born January 2, 1942) is an American former politician who represented Illinois's 14th congressional district from 1987 to 2007 and served as the 51st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007,[1] the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House in history. After being convicted of financial crimes related to repeated incidents of child molestation,[2] he became the highest-ranking elected official in U.S. history to have served a prison sentence.[3]
From 1965 to 1981, Hastert was a high school teacher and coach at Yorkville High School in Yorkville, Illinois. He lost a 1980 bid for the Illinois House of Representatives, but ran again and won a seat in 1981. He was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1986, and was re-elected every two years until he retired in 2007. Hastert rose through the Republican ranks in the House, becoming chief deputy whip in 1995 and Speaker in 1999. As Speaker of the House, Hastert supported the George W. Bush administration's foreign and domestic policies. After Democrats took control of the House in 2007 following the 2006 elections, Hastert declined to seek the position of minority leader, resigned his House seat, and became a lobbyist at the firm of Dickstein Shapiro.
On May 28, 2015, Hastert was indicted on federal charges of structuring bank withdrawals to evade bank reporting requirements and making false statements to federal investigators. Federal prosecutors said that the funds withdrawn by Hastert were used as hush money to conceal past sexual misconduct by Hastert. In October 2015, Hastert entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors. Under the agreement, Hastert pleaded guilty to the structuring charge (a felony); the charge of making false statements was dropped.[4] In court submissions filed in April 2016, federal prosecutors alleged that Hastert had molested at least four boys as young as 14 years of age during his time as a high school wrestling coach.[5] At a sentencing hearing, Hastert admitted that he had sexually abused boys whom he had coached.[6] Referring to Hastert as a "serial child molester", a federal judge imposed a sentence of 15 months in prison, two years' supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.[7][3] Hastert was imprisoned in 2016 and was released 13 months later.[8]
In his first year of graduate school, Hastert spent three months in Japan as part of the People to People Student Ambassador Program.[16] One of Hastert's fellow group members was Tony Podesta (then the president of the Young Democrats at University of Illinois at Chicago Circle).[16] Hastert was employed by Yorkville Community Unit School District 115 for 16 years, from 1965 to 1981.[17] Hastert began working there, at age 23, while still attending NIU.[10] Throughout that time, Hastert worked as a teacher at Yorkville High School (teaching government, history, economics, and sociology), where he also served as a football and wrestling coach.[10][18] Hastert led the school's wrestling team to the 1976 state title and was later named Illinois Coach of the Year.[10] According to federal prosecutors, during the time that he coached wrestling, Hastert sexually abused at least four of his students.[19]
Hastert was a Boy Scout volunteer with Explorer Post 540 of Yorkville for 17 years, during his time as a schoolteacher and coach.[20] Hastert reportedly traveled with the Explorers on trips to the Grand Canyon, the Bahamas, Minnesota, and the Green River in Utah.[21][20]
Following the House banking scandal, which broke in 1992, it was revealed that Hastert had bounced 44 checks during the period under investigation.[14][22] A Justice Department special counsel said there was no reason to believe Hastert had committed any crime in overdrawing his accounts.[22]