CHICAGO (AP) — When Dennis Hastert pleaded guilty last year to breaking banking laws, sentencing guidelines suggested that the former House speaker would probably serve no more than six months in prison for making illegal withdrawals to conceal a dark secret from his past.

But after prosecutors lifted a veil of secrecy from the case, the judge made comments that suggested he might impose a longer sentence, potentially putting Hastert behind bars for several years, because of allegations that he molested at least four student athletes when he was a high school wrestling coach.

Word that one of the accusers will speak at the sentencing hearing is sure to turn up the pressure on Judge Thomas M. Durkin to reject defense calls for probation and send the 74-year-old Republican to prison.

If that happens, Hastert, who was second in the line of succession to the presidency after the vice president and the nation’s longest serving GOP speaker, would become one of the highest-ranking politicians in American history ever to be incarcerated.

Prosecutors have said they would have preferred to charge Hastert with a sex crime. But because the statute of limitations on sexual abuse ran out decades ago, they settled for banking violations. Hastert admitted evading financial regulations when he withdrew money to pay another victim to ensure his silence.