CHICAGO — A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert to 15 months in federal prison – a term above what even prosecutors had recommended and one that clearly takes into account the sexual abuse allegations that generated the criminal case against the Illinois Republican.

The sentencing marked an ignominious moment in the life of a man who was once a revered high school teacher and wrestling coach in Illinois and who ascended into the highest ranks of American politics.

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert arrives at the federal courthouse Wednesday in Chicago for his sentencing on federal banking charges. The Associated Press

Even before the hearing, prosecutors’ had revealed in court filings how Hastert allegedly had molested or inappropriately touched five teenagers affiliated with the wrestling team he coached decades ago.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin had indicated he would consider that in crafting an appropriate punishment.

Hastert, reading from a prepared statement, told a judge he was “deeply ashamed” to be in court. He acknowledged he “mistreated some of the athletes I coached.”

“The thing I want to do is say I’m sorry to those I’ve hurt and misled,” he said. “They looked at me, and I took advantage of them.”

Durkin pressed him further, asking him if he had sexually abused victims in the case. Hastert was hesitant.

Of Scott Cross, a victim who spoke in court earlier in the day, he said: “I don’t remember doing that, but I accept his statement.”

He acknowledged abusing another victim, but hemmed and hawed about Steven Reinboldt, whose sister has shared his story publicly. “It’s a different situation, sir,” Hastert said, before ultimately agreeing that he had sexually abused Reinboldt.

Earlier in court, Cross, 53, a married father of two, told a judge how Hastert had abused him during his senior year of high school in Illinois. Cross, who wrestled on a team Hastert coached, said he ended up alone in a locker room with Hastert when he stayed late to try to shed weight, and Hastert offered to help with a massage.

Cross said that while he was lying on a training table, Hastert pulled down his shorts and touched him in a sexual way.

“I was stunned by what he was doing,” Cross said.

Cross said he “did not say anything to anyone.”

“As a 17-year-old boy, I was devastated,” he said. “I tried to figure out why Coach Hastert had singled me out.”

Cross, whose brother is a former Illinois legislator and who himself works in financial services, said he felt “pain, shame and guilt” for years – confiding what had happened to his brother and wife only after the criminal case against Hastert emerged.

He said he had trouble sleeping and working, but came forward because he wanted the judge to know what happened, and he wanted his children to know “there’s an alternative to staying silent.”

“I wanted you to know the pain and suffering he caused me then, and still causes me today,” Cross said.

Hastert, who arrived at the federal courthouse Wednesday morning in a wheelchair, did not plead guilty to any sex crimes. Rather, he admitted in October that he had withdrawn money in increments that would allow him to avoid having to report it – itself a crime carrying a maximum five year sentence. The money, investigators would come to learn, was meant to buy the silence of a man who alleged Hastert had victimized him as a youth.

Prosecutors had recommended Hastert face between zero and six months in prison; defense attorneys had advocated for probation. In court filings, Hastert’s attorneys wrote that Hastert, who is in poor health, was deeply ashamed of what he had done.

Thomas Green, Hastert’s attorney, said in a recent statement: “Mr. Hastert acknowledges that as a young man he committed transgressions for which he is profoundly sorry. He earnestly apologizes to his former students, family, friends, previous constituents and all others affected by the harm his actions have caused.”

The investigation of Hastert started three years ago, when FBI and IRS investigators were tipped that Hastert had been withdrawing money in suspicious amounts and not telling bank officials truthfully why. Prosecutors wrote that investigators initially wondered whether Hastert was being extorted, and Hastert himself claimed as much after they interviewed him. He pointed the finger at a man he said was making false claims about sex abuse.

After listening to Hastert talk to the man he alleged was blackmailing him on a recorded call, though, FBI agents were skeptical. And when they interviewed the man, they concluded he was making believable claims. Other victims emerged with similar stories, but prosecutors wrote that they could not charge Hastert with any sex crimes because the federal and state statutes of limitations had long expired.

All of those alleging Hastert abused or touched them inappropriately were teenagers when the abuse occurred decades ago. The U.S. probation office found “no evidence of any sexual misconduct since approximately 1979,” which is before Hastert entered elected office, court filings show.

That Hastert was able to avoid any such allegations becoming public is itself remarkable. Hastert first entered state politics in Illinois in the early 80s, successfully running for Congress to fill the seat of a mentor who had fallen ill. He served as speaker until 2007 – making him longest serving Republican to hold the office in history.

To a man, his former pupils, athletes, staffers, and scouts told The Washington Post they saw no signs Hastert was abusing anyone. The end of Hastert’s time in Congress was even marred by sex-related scandal, as Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned amid reports that he had sent explicit messages to an underage page.

Some who worked closely with Hastert or for him directly said they wonder if his handling of that matter was affected by the knowledge of what was in his past, though they never saw signs that Hastert himself was inappropriately interested in pages.

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