Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert has become one of the highest-ranking politicians in American history to be sentenced to prison.

Hastert pleaded guilty last fall to violating banking law as he sought to pay someone referred to as Individual A $3.5 million to keep sex abuse secret. He was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison, sex offender treatment, two years of supervised release after his time behind bars and a $250,000 fine that will go to a crime victims fund.

When U.S. Judge Thomas M. Durkin read the sentence, Hastert sat unmoving in his wheelchair, hands folded on his lap, shoulders hunched and his face drawn.

The 74-year-old Illinois Republican was the nation’s longest-serving GOP speaker and was second in the line of succession to the presidency.

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A federal judge has sentenced Dennis Hastert to 15 months in prison in a hush-money case that centered on accusations that the former U.S. House speaker sexually abused at least four students when he was a high school wrestling coach.

Judge Thomas M. Durkin announced the sentence Wednesday. Hastert also must undergo sex offender treatment, two years of supervised release after his time behind bars and a $250,000 fine to go to a crime victims fund.

He pleaded guilty last fall to violating banking law as he sought to pay someone referred to as Individual A $3.5 million to keep sex abuse secret.

Before he sentenced Hastert, Durkin described the 74-year-old Illinois Republican as a “serial child molester,” and that “accusing Individual A of extorting you was unconscionable.”

He was the nation’s longest-serving GOP speaker and was second in the line of succession to the presidency.

EARLIER STORY:

A federal judge has described Dennis Hastert as a “serial child molester” as he prepares to issue a sentence in the former U.S. House speaker’s hush-money case.

Judge Thomas M. Durkin said Wednesday that he would order Hastert to undergo sex offender treatment as part of his sentence.

The 74-year-old Hastert read a prepared statement which he told the court that he “mistreated” some of his athletes. When Durkin asked whether he sexually abused one wrestler specifically, Hastert said yes.

EARLIER STORY:

Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert has told a federal courtroom that he “mistreated” some of the athletes he coached decades ago as a high school teacher and that he’s “deeply ashamed.”

The 74-year-old Republican spoke during his sentencing hearing Wednesday in federal court in Chicago. He said, “I mistreated some of my athletes that I coached,” and that “I’m deeply ashamed to be standing before you today.”

Hastert pleaded guilty in October to violating banking reporting laws as he sought to pay someone $3.5 million.

Hastert’s plea deal sets out a sentencing guideline ranging from probation to six months behind bars. But the judge could impose a harsher sentence.